Charmy Nonsense
by SAJ-Man
Summary: Just a collection of silly one shots about the hyperactive bee we all know. If there are any Charmy haters out there, maybe these stories will change your mind about him.
1. Charmy In a Library

Vector forced Charmy to go to the library and get some books pertaining to a new case. Charmy of course was bored when he first got there, reading and quite? No thanks. He's rather play around and have a loud happy time. But no, Vector said it was super important to the case and he needed to get all the books based on... freezing soup?

"Arrgh! What does this have to do with anything?!" Charmy groaned loudly, granting him a unanimous irritated shush from the entire establishment. The small boy visibly shrank under the sudden adult correction and sheepishly looked at the ground.

"Sorryyyy..." he said quietly. Man this place was boring. And the people were mean. Oh well, the sooner he got the stupid boring books for boring Vector he could play with his toys. Charmy flew around, as quietly as his hyperactive personality would allow, in search for the freezing soup books. Isle upon isle of bland book covers and ugly carpet scrolled past him as he flew deeper into the library. Charmy was just about to give up and go back home, until he saw the most wonderful thing he would ever see in a library.

"Comic booooooks!" he shouted more excited than he'd been all day. Much to his surprise, he didn't receive any shushing from the mean adults. Turns out, this part of the library was deserted for the moment. Too excited to stay still, Charmy flew around the shelves, grabbing everything that looked cool. After a second he had an entire stack of comics bigger than Vector in his arms. He plopped down right in the middle of the isle and began skimming through the colorful explosive pages. He cheered and laughed and cringed at the scenes he had unfolded in the colorful books until one caught his attention longer than any other comic so far.

It was about knights and castles and medieval wars. Charmy normally didn't think too highly of that kind of old timey stuff, but the way the characters were armored and the castles they were in intrigued his curious mind. After a couple minutes of studying the comic, he gasped in exclamation.

"I got it! Hee hee hee, this is gonna be awesome!" the bee said to himself as he flew back to the boring part of the library and picked out the thickest and biggest of the boring books. With the speed of a sugar rush toddler, he had brought hundreds of thick hard cover books to the comic book part of the building. After standing on his large pile, he began to rearrange the pile into a more structured form.

Within seconds, a pile of books were made into an exact replica of the castle from the comic book. Charmy had ripped a couple of the blank pages out of the back of an encyclopedia and origami-ed them into a knight's helmet and sword. He was ready to play now.

"Halt, none shall pass into the Bee Castle this day! I, Sir Charmy of Beedom, will protect this castle from all invaders!" he declared loudly, in a voice he thought sounded heroic. Eventually, someone walked past the isle and Charmy addressed them. They were confused but amused and decided to play along. More and more people began to walk past, some joined in the game, others simply watched. Charmy and his new friends fought in sword fights, slayed some dragons, partied with the king, all kinds of fun was being had.

Until the mean librarian came to the comic section and saw a bunch of books being misused by kids. She furiously chased after Charmy and his playmates, throwing books and anything she could get her hands on at them. While all the other kids were terrified, Charmy simply laughed and flew away from her. He was having a great time, the lady had a good arm! They lapped around the library 6 times before the librarian threw a special book Charmy's way. Instead of dodging, he caught it and saw it was one of the books Vector asked for. Charmy grinned and flew circles around that particular isle, the librarian still angry, threw everything on the shelves at him. Charmy, while dodging, read the titles of the books, picked out the one's he needed, and once the shelves were clear he laughed.

"Thanks for helping me find these! You're a really fun library lady! But uh" Charmy looked around at all the destruction their chase caused, "you should really tidy this place up! Looks like a tornado hit it!"

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT YOU PESTY-!" the librarian screamed, until the bee flew right in her face and yelled...

"SHHHHHHHH! This is a library, you know!" that was the last straw. The librarian lunged at him, but Charmy quickly flew above her and headed out the exit, laughing all the way.

"Guys, I'm baaaaaaack!" Charmy shouted as he crossed the threshold of the Chaotix's little detective agency. Vector looked up from his papers and pulled one of his headphones from the side of his head.

"What took you so long?! Did you slack off again?!" Vector fussed. Charmy flew up to his desk and placed the small stack of books in front of the older man. Vector, surprised, looked down at the pile, then back up at Charmy, his expression falling to a slightly annoyed pout. Charmy's smug smile was plastered on his round little face and slapped Vector right across his.

"As a matter of fact, NOPE! These are AAAAALL the boring books you wanted, Boss!" he chirped happily. Vector picked up the books and opened one of them to the first page. Charmy's smile slightly fell as silence grew between them. Vector looked back up at him and quickly patted the boy's head with his large hand.

"Good work, Charmy! I bet this took a lot of effort and focus for you to do!" Vector chided warmly. Charmy giggled and rubbed his nose meekly.

"Naaaaw! It was a lot more fun than work!"


	2. Charmy Chased By A Monster

Charmy was playing with his Shadow and Sonic action figures in his room, just minding his own business. When all of a sudden, he noticed his wall. Not like he didn't know it was there before, but there was something weird about it. It looked like the paint was... more swirly than he remembered. And it was... moving? Charmy curiously poked the wall, seeing what the heck was happening.

Suddenly, the wall swirled into a portal, Charmy's finger slightly entering into the mysterious transporting wall. He immediately snatched it back and it was good that he did, for King Boom Boo's mouth had nearly chomped the end of his finger off! Charmy yelped in surprise and flew to the other side of his room, King Boom Boo emerging from the portal slowly.

Charmy could hardly breathe. What was this thing, why was it trying to eat him, how did it get in his room? A million thoughts ran through the bee boy's head, as King Boom Boo loomed closer to him. Charmy finally snapped out of his frozen state and looked up at the ghost monster.

"What are you?" he asked, seemingly more excited than scared. The ghost simply growled loudly, shaking Charmy to his core. After the shock of the ghost's sudden loudness and its... breath, Charmy opened his eyes, and really looked at the ghost king. Charmy's head tilted to the side as he closely observed the ghost's mouth. Was that its tongue? It looked like... a rainbow. It literally had a rainbow colored tongue. To Charmy, that meant only one thing. With realization flashing in his eyes, he zipped right into the ghost king's large scary face.

"DO YOU HAVE CANDY?! GIMME SOME GIMME SOME GIMME SOME! PLEEEEEEEEEASE?!" he shouted, incredible excitement coursing through his tiny body as he vibrated in front of the ghost. The king of ghosts was thoroughly confused. Why wasn't this child scared, everyone is scared of ghosts, especially kids. So what was up with this bee?

King Boom Boo pushed the questions aside and moved to grab Charmy, but Charmy disappeared just as his hand was about to take hold of his tiny body. King Boom Boo twirled around, looking for the strange boy, where could he have gone?

"You-who!" the ghost heard as he whipped his body around to see Charmy floating next to the portal he came from. He was pouting now, his hands folded over his body.

"If you aren't gonna share your candy, then get out of my room, weirdo" he said agitated. The ghost king lunged for him again, faster this time. But Charmy disappeared again, leaving the ghost to fly through the wall, needing to double back. When the monster returned, he was furious; his hands emitting blue fire and his eyes sharp, piercing yellow orbs pointed right at the irritating bug. But Charmy still wasn't scared.

No, Charmy was still agitated at the ghost for being stingy with its candy. He leaned his small form toward the ghost king, his hands still on his hips and a unpleased look on his face.

"Hey! I said get out of my room, you big jerk! That means stay out!" he yelled. That was the last straw for the monster ghost. He threw his blue fire at the bee, but Charmy just flew out of the window, backwards so he could stick his tongue out at the ghost as he flew away. With a roar and another fireball toss, King Boom Boo was chasing after Charmy above the city.

The fireball quickly whizzed pass the flying boy, leaving him unharmed. Charmy flew skillfully through the cityscape; tall buildings being effortlessly evaded through. Thinking that with the giant ghost's size and Charmy's expert flying, the ghost would be stuck eating his dust unable to follow him. And normally, he would have been right... but King Boom Boo is a ghost... soooooo...

"Aw man, how'd I forget? Ghost can go through walls and junk!" Charmy remarked as he saw King Boom Boo easily move through the obstacles Charmy had led him to. Charmy resumed flying forward, making sure to sporadically move left, right, up, and down to avoid the ghost fireballs.

"Okay, this is gonna be trickier than I thought..." Charmy said to himself as he dodged another attack from the roaring monster behind him. Charmy flew higher into the air, trying to make sure there was enough room to take the monster down without hurting anyone... but his eye caught something colorful and shining in the distance.

"No way! There's a carnival in town! Ha ha, I'm gonna ride the ferris wheel!" he said, completely forgetting that he was currently being chased by an angry monster... which angered the angry monster even more! As Charmy flew down to the carnival, King Boom Boo let out a loud cry, loud enough that it could be heard down on the street. After his cry, a few smaller ghosts flew out of random places and went to his side. King Boom Boo pointed at the now far away Charmy, happily thinking about the funnel cakes and cotton candy he was about to steal, uh, buy at the carnival. The little ghosts moved after him with their king in tow.

Charmy finally reached the carnival and was ready to have a blast. He immediately flew to the bumper cars and entered the small vehicle. The smaller ghosts were closing in, but Charmy was completely focused on having fun. And just as the small ghosts were about to grab the innocent boy, they shrieked in horror.

Once Charmy had taken the last bumper car, bright neon lights lit up the arena the cars occupied. The little ghosts knew they were weak to light and there was a lot of it here. They tried to escape, but it was too late. All the kids, Charmy included were currently running them over, squashing them into the walls or other cars, and hitting them all across the arena. King Boom Boo watched with horror as his servants were being crumbled by the cruel children. King Boom Boo decided to wait for Charmy to leave the nightmare place of light. Then he'd have his soul for dinner...

Charmy moved from the bumper cars to the tea cups, then to whack-a-mole, then to the cotton candy and funnel cakes, and everywhere that he could go. As the hours went on, the carnival announced that they would be closing for the night, much to Charmy's dismay. He wasn't ready for the fun to end, but he understood. He had been there all day and it was probably best to go home. He took all of his new toys and prizes with him to the skies as he headed back to the agency.

Finally, King Boom Boo was waiting for this moment for hours and finally, the time was right. He was gonna take that annoying little brat's soul if it was the last thing he did. He went invisible, he didn't want to chase the boy anymore, and flew right in front of him. And just as he was about to bite the kid's head off, Charmy opened his mouth to yawn, and that was the worst thing the ghost king could happen to him.

One of Charmy's innocuous prizes had been a pair of light up teeth, which he was currently sporting over his own teeth. The flashing light blinded and severely damaged the evil ghost and Charmy without knowing it, had nearly defeated the villainous monster. Charmy finished yawning and lazily opened his eyes, suddenly he was looking at the ghost monster from before.

"Oh right! You were chasing me earlier! What, you still mad?" he asked slightly exhausted. King Boom Boo cowered under the flashing lights still in his mouth. Charmy reached into his bag and pulled something out, presenting it to the ghost. King Boom Boo stopped cowering for a moment to see what he had in his hand. It was... a bunch of colorful candy.

"This was AAAALL ya had to do to avoid me yelling at ya. When you have candy, you share it like this. It's not that hard" Charmy said still a little annoyed. The ghost looked confused at the small boy's hand, offering something that he owned to something that was trying to kill him. What was this boy? He was so unlike anyone else the ghost king had met.

Charmy, annoyed with the silence and the staring of the cowardly ghost, threw the candy in its agape mouth. "Just take it and leave me alone, alright? I'm going to bed" Charmy nonchalantly said as he yawned again, further damaging King Boom Boo and making him fly away. Charmy continued to fly home, slightly wondering what he was even talking about a second ago. But he dropped that aside, mentally remembering only the best part of today.

"Man, that carnival was fun! I'm going back tomorrow..." he thought to himself as he made it back into his neighborhood, a ghostly monster looking from afar, happily tasting the sugar filled treats he was given by a not-so-bad, bug boy...


	3. Charmy In a Courtroom

_Okay if none of the other ones were nonsense, this one definitely is. XDDDDD I was watching a lot of Law and Order with my mom, okay? X'DDDDD_

 _Also wow, this has gotten a lot more attention than I thought it would. Thanks everyone for your faves and reviews! I sincerely appreciate it! Expect more soon! ^^_

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Charmy in a courtroom: "OBJECTION!" a high pitched, energetic voice echoed through the courtroom for the 20th time in an hour.

"For the last time, Mr. Bee, you can't say 'objection' in a courtroom unless you are a lawyer. Now please, remain quiet or you will be held in contempt of court!" said a very irritated judge. Charmy physically deflated as he slumped down to his seat.

"Why can this guy say law stuff and not me?" the young bee asked upset. He crossed his arms in displeasure as the judge chose to ignore his question. He instead turned his attention to the prosecutor that was waiting to finish his round of questioning for the trial currently taking place.

"Continue, counselor" said the judge with a swift "Thank you, Your Honor" gratefully pushed to him. The lawyer took a quick deep breath as he mentally went back to the beginning of his thought.

"Charmy, on the night in question, you previously stated that you were getting ice cream with your friends, correct?" he asked plainly.

"Mm-hmm" Charmy nodded, still a little upset. But then remembered something else.

"WITHDRAWN! No, I wasn't with my friends, I was with my BEST friends and detective bros, the Chaotix!" Charmy said proudly as he unknowingly floated a few feet above the testifying seat. The lawyer looked at Charmy with exasperated eyes and sighed impatiently. He had to get through this stupid trial so he could get paid and this annoying kid was getting in the way of that. But he was the adult, so he just decided to be mature and press on.

"Ha ha, okay, you don't have to say 'withdrawn', Charmy. Just tell the truth in simple, direct words. Alright, so you said you noticed the defendant walking up to Mr. East's car parked on the street in front of the ice cream place?" he asked, hoping Charmy would just say yes so he could get him out of the courtroom quickly.

"Yup!" Charmy responded. With a silent sigh of relief, the lawyer continued.

"So you're saying-" he was interrupted by a loud "WITHDRAWN!"

"Actually, the car was parked a little further on the street, it wasn't directly in front of the ice cream place. Wait, wait, wait! WITHDRAWN! The car WAS parked in front of the ice cream place, BUUUUT it was across the street, on the other block's side!" Charmy said exuberantly, the lawyer frozen in irritation even after Charmy finished withdrawing his withdraw. The courtroom was silent, the lawyer staring daggers at the oblivious child floating above his seat.

After a short moment, the lawyer broke the silence, his voice thick with impatience.

"Charmy, you don't have to withdraw anything you say, especially if it's not important to answering my questions, okay?" he waited to see Charmy nod in agreement. He did and the suit wearing man continued.

"So you clearly saw the defendant break the glass window of Mr. East's driver's window, unlock the car door, hot-wire the car, and drive away in it? Is that correct, Charmy?" his final question asked, the lawyer thought just say yes and we're done, just say yes, you stupid, annoying, little-

"WITHDRAWN!" Charmy said loudly.

"YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING YET! WHAT ARE YOU WITHDRAWING?!" the lawyer screamed, finally losing his cool. Charmy laughed innocently at him yelling.

"What you said, silly! It was wrong" Charmy said tiredly after laughing. The lawyer, so angry he couldn't process his words fast enough, stuttered out in protest.

"I-ah-pfft-wha- what exactly did I SAY that was WRONG, BRAT?!" he managed to get out.

"You said that guy broke the window on the driver's side to unlock the door, he didn't. The door was unlocked without any tricks, just with car keys. And that window was broken after the guy got in the car, the glass was on the outside of the car. Also, yeah, the car wasn't hot-wired. The actual wires used to hot-wire that kind of car weren't even close to touching. The person in the car just wanted to make it LOOK like the car was hijacked" Charmy said casually, as if it wasn't a big deal.

Everyone was silent, this time in surprise, the lawyer and judge included. Charmy looked around the courtroom confused.

"You guys DID LOOK at the crime scene photos and reports... right?" he asked, the lawyer going back in his briefcase to look at the photos. He studied them for a moment and looked up, realization on his face.

"Oh, plus, WITHDRAWN! You said I saw the defendant, but I'm not sure I did. I saw someone that LOOKED like that guy, but this person that was in the car could have had a mask to resemble the defendant. What I know I saw, was a guy with a key get in, then break the window, and drive off. And the only one with a key was Mr. West so it looks like he's the one you should be looking at" Charmy finished up his statement.

The lawyer looked at his client, Mr. West, guilt written over his expression. He knew that Mr. West was the true culprit. But he still needed to know one thing.

"Why, right?" Charmy asked casually. The lawyer turned his surprised face to Charmy again.

"That's what you're wondering, right? Easy, he wanted to pin the theft on the defendant so that he could get revenge for that guy cutting him out of his illegal drug smuggling operation. AND he wanted the insurance company to pay him because he's covered for theft and nothing else. Not even accidents or repairs? Yeah, he planned this WAAAY ahead of time. They're both bad guys, they both need to go to jail" Charmy said as he flew off the witness stand. The entire courtroom was quiet, until Mr. West tried to get up and run out of the room, but the bailiff's subdued him and the defendant.

Charmy was just about to fly out of the door, but he stopped and turned around.

"AND I SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SAY 'OBJECTION' AND STUFF HERE! THAT GUY GOT TO, AND HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT!" Charmy shouted, pointing at the lawyer, before finally flying into the hallway. The lawyer simply stared at the doors the young bee flew through as the two criminals were being cuffed and escorted to holding cells. He slapped his forehead incredulously and dropped his suitcase on the floor.

"I quit"


	4. Charmy In a Grocery Store

_Wow, only a few weeks old and this has well over 100 views! You guys are seriously awesome, thanks for all the support for these silly oneshots! v Here's another one! XDDD_

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"Blegh, why does this stuff smell so bad, Espio?!" Charmy squeaked out after reeling his face back from some exotic vegetable he couldn't pronounce. Espio sighed impatiently, putting down the lettuce head and celery sticks he was examining to snatch Charmy off the ground. He was currently fake barfing as loud as he could, causing a scene for the 15th time that day.

"Charmy, it's Bok Choy. It's not supposed to smell like flowers. Now will you kindly compose yourself?" he asked in a non-asking way. Charmy slowly died down his barfing and floated right above Espio's head, sighing loudly.

"Why am I here again? Why can't Vector go grocery shopping with you? This is booooring..." Charmy whined. Espio turned his head to look in Charmy's direction slightly, but never taking his eyes off of the produce.

"Because he is off handling some other business. And the last time you went with him to handle other business, you ended up setting an entire building on fire" Charmy frowned awkwardly, remembering how quickly the fire spread to the rest of the building. He was only trying to see how many matches he could light and hold in his mouth while juggling as many books as he could. Man that was dangerous... yet he giggled thinking how close he was to holding 30 lit matches in his mouth! That had to be a world record or something!

"So you're punishment is being here with me, where you won't be able to light anything on fire. Hopefully..." Espio placed more items in the grocery cart as he moved down the aisle, Charmy following a couple of feet behind him.

"But Es-pi-oooooo, this is so boring and disgusting, all you're getting is fruits and vegetables and nasty stuff. You're not even getting the good stuff!" the young boy protested, pointing toward the snack aisle to emphasize his point. Espio didn't look in his direction as he looked at two potatoes intently.

"That's because we still have the 'good stuff' at home. We ate all of the fruits and vegetables, so this isn't about getting what Charmy wants..." he threw one potato back and placed the other in the basket along with the bag it came from.

"Nuh-uh! That's not true, Espio! We ran out of Crunchy Monkeys!" Charmy flew in front of Espio quickly, remembering one of his favorite snacks. Espio, finally looking at Charmy, had an unimpressed expression on his face.

"We don't need more Crunchy Monkeys, we need sustenance; food that we eat for dinner, not disgustingly sugary treats, which if you recall, you singlehandedly ate in one sitting..." Espio chastised the yellow stripped kid. Charmy stared at Espio, with pleading eyes wider than dinner plates. The chameleon wasn't flinching though, and simply pushed his younger companion out of his personal space and continued shopping quietly. Charmy groaned in exasperation, Espio was being a stick in the mud. As usual...

But just as Charmy turned to catch up with him, he noticed something in the distance. It was colorful and inviting. Curiosity gnawed at the bee, and he quickly thought how he could convince his ninja partner to free him from this torturous task so he could investigate.

"Uh, Espio... do you think I could get some of the other things on the list while you... stare at every individual grape in every bag? We could get out of here faster" he offered, hoping he sounded innocent. The magenta reptile turned to see the bee floating nonchalantly, or rather, as nonchalantly as a child who can't stop moving could. Squinted eyes inspected the boy's sudden change in attitude, trying to ascertain if he was up to anything.

An uncomfortable 2 minute stare down was all it took for Espio to warily give half of the shopping list quickly scribbled by Vector to the waiting toddler.

"If you come back with anything not on this list, today will not end well for you, bee..." Espio threatened. A nervous gulp was all the boy could muster before Espio turned back around and inspected the grapes. Finally, Charmy was free to look at whatever that colorful thing in the distance was.

He zipped across aisles, people and their carts, and signs until he was floating before it. Something so beautiful he couldn't even speak for a moment. But when he finally got his voice back he was able to say this:

"I've only seen you in my dreams... I never knew you were real... and now that I see you... you're even better than I imagined..."

There in front of him was a line of new Crunchy Monkey flavors. Blue Sky Blue Blast of Blueness, Root Beer Soda Explosion, Icing Frosting Sugar Jelly Bites, and Rainbow Seizure Playful Death Drop. The tears wouldn't stop, it was so beautiful. Charmy hugged the animatronic monkey sign, laughing incredulously.

"Bless you, Crunchy Monkey! Bless you!" he cried. Nothing was going to keep him from sneaking these out of the store and chowing down. However, a loud rumbling caught Charmy's attention. It sounded like a stampede... and it was getting louder and louder. The boy fearfully turned around and promptly screamed in horror at the sight.

It was a group of kids, running right towards him and his wondrous Crunchy Monkeys, wrecking anything and everything unfortunate enough to be in their path. A couple of adults were trampled over by their small feet, several shopping carts left unattended were bent and misshaped from the ferocious tiny hands of the horde. Charmy stared at the incoming threat, shaking uncontrollably, wondering how he was going to survive this.

But with a quick look back at the cartoon monkey sign, smiling obliviously, Charmy found the strength inside of himself to stand against this threat. He floated down to the tiled floor, careful not to step on the many white tiles, but the turquoise diamond tile. He inhaled deeply, reeled his upper body back for a moment and thrust a loud voice forward at the horde.

"THE WHITE TILES ARE LAVAAAAAAAAA!" he announced loud enough for the entire supermarket to hear. Within seconds of the high pitched bee's voice echoing off the walls, the children horde rushed off of the many white tiles and fought for the too few turquoise diamonds so they wouldn't die a horrible, burning death.

However, a lot of them were too late, Charmy pointed at all the kids still standing on the white tiles, and shouted, "HA HA! YOU'RE MELTED! NOW YOU GOTTA STAY FROZEN! HA!" A collective "Aww maaaaaan" resonated from the group of kids and they systematically flopped to the floor. As far as Charmy could see, there was only 10 kids left, and they were still trying to find a way to push the other kids off the safety of the diamonds so they could get closer to the coveted Crunchy Monkeys shelf.

Charmy laughed triumphantly, he had safely secured the treats all for himself. But suddenly, he felt a foot land on his head. A big foot. He nearly fell over from the sudden attack! Luckily, there was another turquoise diamond close enough for him to put his hand on and do a handstand.

"Who- who the heck?!" he asked angrily, as he looked toward the person now standing in front of the Crunchy Monkeys. It was a kangaroo, a green, hoodie clad, kangaroo. Who was a lot older than Charmy now that he saw him. He had to be 11 or maybe even 11 and a half!

"There's no way you're gonna get MY new Crunchy Monkeys, you bubble-headed wimp! Nya ha ha!" the green kangaroo mocked. The yellow stripped bee simply looked at him, mouth agape. Did he... did he just... call him... a bubble-headed wimp?! And did he just claim Charmy's Crunchy Monkey's as HIS?! Did this guy WANT Charmy to bust the teeth out of his mouth?!

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TRYING TO TAKE MY CRUNCHY MONKEYS, YOU UGLY FART CLOUD!?" Charmy spat back, angering the kangaroo.

"First off, THESE ARE MINE! Second off, you're not gonna win in a game of the floor is lava against me! I've got the maddest hops in town! I can jump from here to the moon if I wanted to!" he said, sneering at Charmy, who was still upside down doing his handstand. The kangaroo moved a gloved hand to the shelf, using his extra height to stay on the diamond and grab a box of Rainbow Seizure Playful Death Drop flavored Crunchy Monkeys.

The energetic bee could feel the heat rising to his face, he was sure steam was about to blast out of his antennas. He was not about to try the new flavors before him. No way, no how! With the strength of an olympic athlete, Charmy pushed his entire body into the air, aiming himself at the villainous kangaroo. His tiny shoes collied with the back of the kangaroo's head, ha served him right, he had just kicked Charmy in the back of his head after all. The green mammal face planted on the shelf and as soon as Charmy jumped off of his head, fell backwards, toward the lava tiles.

Unfortunately, the emerald colored marsupial had better reflexes than Charmy thought. He managed to jump to the tile Charmy was previously on. The bee was now latched onto the paper towel shelf adjacent to the much more interesting Crunchy Monkeys shelf. The kangaroo growled and pointed at the higher boy.

"That's cheating isn't it?! You have to use the floor in 'the floor is lava' game! You cheating bubble-head!"

"Not if we're playing by the Spagonia rules, which we are! The only rules are don't touch the lava tiles and flying isn't allowed. As you can see, since I called the game, I haven't flown once, you mega, flat-nosed golem!" Charmy corrected him. The kangaroo coiled his legs, preparing for a jump.

"Well, if that's how we're playing this..." he whispered to himself before launching himself to the top of the shelf, Charmy looking up in surprise.

"Then let's get this over with, chump!" shouted the kangaroo before he used his tail to swat Charmy off of the shelf he was holding onto.

"Gwah!" grunted Charmy fearfully as flew into a wall. The green kangaroo laughed victoriously as he prepared to jump onto the Crunchy Monkeys shelf. A red-orange beam stopped him in his tracks before he could move. The beam, shot from the direction the seemingly incapacitated Charmy had been smacked to, hit the kangaroo's side and pushed him across the top of the aisle shelf.

The energetic bee, still lodged into the wall, had his hand pointed at the kangaroo, smoke coming off of his palm. This jerk didn't know who he was messing with. After training for a long time with Vector, Espio, and to a lesser extent Mighty and Ray, Charmy could harness his aura and use it to do miraculous feats. He could use it to manipulate the air and create whirlwinds strong enough to seem solid. He could use it to cover his body and strengthen him, making him an organic wrecking ball able to smash through nearly any object. He could even use it to charge up electricity and shoot it out as projectiles.

In other words, Charmy basically had super powers. Meaning this kid was not about to beat him.

The kangaroo scrambled to stay on top of the shelf, Charmy jumped up from his new wall hole to land on the other end of the shelf. As soon as the kangaroo regained his balance and breathed in a few worrisome breaths, he shot a threatening, but shocked look at the young boy standing triumphantly before him.

"Wha- wha- what was that?! Did- did... you do that?!" shocked beyond belief. Charmy laughed in a haughty tone. A white gloved finger playfully rubbing under his black button nose as he smiled widely.

"You don't know who I am, so I'm sure you're confused, but I'm apart of the world famous Chaotix Detective Agency! We're basically super heroes, and that means..." Charmy stopped and placed his hands in front of himself. After a second, the tips of his fingers began to glow with the same red-orange energy that hit the kangaroo. The emerald furred marsupial slowly widened his eyes in response, his suspicions confirmed.

"We got super powers..." he chuckled, feeling superior to the kangaroo staring in shock. The kangaroo boy shakily pushed himself to his feet, trying to stand up to his full height, thinking maybe that would make him feel on top of the situation again. But he just couldn't find the strength to uncurl his back. Well, Charmy wasn't about to let this opportunity slip by him. He leaped at the kangaroo, feeling akin to a rocket, and smashed his head into the larger boy's stomach, a decisive blow. The wind was knocked out of the kangaroo and the green boy effectively flew off of the shelf, falling hopelessly onto the white tiles.

"Oooof!" was all Charmy needed to hear. The giddy little bee hopped onto his feet and exuberantly celebrated his victory.

"Wooooohoooo! You're melted, blockhead! Which means the Crunchy Monkeys are all MINEEEEE! HAHAHAHAHA!" the boisterous black and yellow insect shouted loudly. He had done it! The threat was neutralized, the Crunchy Monkeys were saved, and all of his dreams were coming true-

"What in the world is all of this?!" a familiar voice asked incredulously. Horrified, Charmy whipped his head around and saw Espio below him, taking in the glorious mayhem he had wrought. And just like a bolt of lightning, Charmy remembered what Espio told him before he was freed from boredom.

"If you come back with anything not on this list, today will not end well for you, bee..."

THE LIST.

Frantically, his small hands patted all around his body, feeling around for the paper that could save his life. After shifting his hand under his treasured helmet, he touched the small paper scrap resting under it. The breath of relief he exhaled could have put out a house fire. Making sure Espio hadn't looked up and saw him, Charmy snuck down from the top of the shelf and into the aisle, snatching some jelly from one of the shelves before booking it in the opposite direction Espio was moving in.

Moving at speeds rivaling Sonic the freaking Hedgehog, Charmy flew through the aisles, snatching the listed items. And before Espio called his name, correctly suspecting the mayhem to be his fault, Charmy called to him from behind.

"Hey Espio, I'm done with my half of the list! Let's go home already!" the cheerful voice coming from behind had Espio look back with a bewildered expression on his face.

"Charmy... you got all the groceries on the list..? Did you get anything not-"

"Not on the list? Nope. Because you threatened to kill me if I did. And I like living!" he said with a toothy smile. Espio looked at him and the surrounding madness, puzzled. After a moment, he sighed in disbelief and shook his head.

"You know what, I don't care. You did your part, I did mine, let's go home" he said unamused. Espio walked the cart in the direction of the checkout aisles, giving Charmy a chance to let out the sigh of relief he was holding in.

When it was finally time for them to put their groceries on the conveyer belt, Espio took care to move the items onto the belt. Charmy opted to chuck as many groceries as he could onto the moving platform as fast as he could. That is... until he saw some curious items.

Stuff that looked like vegetables but were more akin to flowers and leaves. Charmy remembered some of these things from tv shows. They were herbs. And they weren't on the list.

"... Espio... what is this stuff?" he asked annoyed, his head cocked to the side and his tongue pressed against his cheek. Espio turned to Charmy, embarrassed to be caught.

"Well... you know... I've been... meaning to try some different flavors of tea and-"

"NO NO NO NO NO! IF I CAN'T HAVE CRUNCHY MONKEYS, YOU CAN'T HAVE THESE FRU FRU TEA HERBS! THAT'S NOT FAAAAAIR!" the young boy wailed as he sat in the shopping cart, making Espio very uncomfortable. Charmy whined and cried loudly for several minutes before the shinobi finally gave in.

"Alright! Alright, Charmy! You can get a few boxes-"

"Great!"

Charmy lifted up his helmet and out dropped several boxes of Crunchy Monkeys onto the conveyer belt.

"Did... did you.. PLAN on... shoplifting those..?!" Espio asked angrily.

"I don't know what that means, but I wasn't gonna leave this store without my Crunchy Monkeys! It wouldn't have mattered if we paid for these or not!" Charmy said nonchalantly as he put the rest of the groceries on the conveyer belt. Espio stared at him bewildered and frustrated, pointing his hand toward the koala cashier scanning their groceries. Charmy simply looked up at Espio, smiling innocently. After a moment of awkward silence between them, Charmy finally understood what Espio meant with his pointing.

"... Oh! No offense dude, it's just... it's the new Crunchy Monkeys flavors!" the boy innocently said to the employee. Espio was about to slap his forehead in exasperation.

"No worries. I've eaten a few boxes on lunch break, I wouldn't have stopped you, little dude" the chameleon heard the koala's response. The ninja's confusion only deepened. The koala scanned the last of the items and told the incredulous chameleon the total of his purchase as an excited Charmy responded to his earlier statement with an astute "Ha ha ha, I would do that too!".

"Oh and nice game of 'the floor is lava'. That was straight awesome, bee dude" the koala commented in a very chill way. Disturbing Espio even further.

"Hey, thanks man! I had a ton of fun!" said Charmy excitedly. Espio looked between the two very friendly people talking about stupid snacks and games and sighed in acceptance.

"At least the store isn't on fire..." he calmly said as he placed a couple of rings on the counter. But just then, Charmy shot an energy blast at the ceiling, lighting it on fire. Charmy looked at his older ninja friend slowly, a sheepish smile on his face. Espio resumed his face palm he started a few minutes ago.

"... dang it, Charmy..."

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 _Oh and the green kangaroo is from Sonic Adventure. It's one of the chibi animals you give to the Chao in the Chao Garden. I just enlarged him for the story. XDDD_


	5. Charmy Learns A New Word (E)

_Wow wow wow, you guys! This fic has over 200 views and it's just over 2 weeks old! You guys rock, I'm so glad that so many people are digging these little oneshots! I can't thank you enough, and to everyone that has liked and followed and reviewed, thank you so so much, I sincerely appreciate everything you guys do! TTwTT_

 _That being said, um, this one in particular ended up not being funny at all, it's a bit more dramatic and it's more Espio and Vector focused than Charmy. So just letting you know, this one's a bit different from the other ones. I don't know where this came from, but I liked it, and this whole collection is about random moments with these characters, so I kept it. Hope that's okay and the cute/funny oneshots will be back next update ^v^_

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"Hey Espio, what does this say?" Charmy said flying into the living room of their small detective agency. Espio looked in his direction, tea cup in one hand, the other held out for the small scroll in the bee's hands.

"Charmy, you know I hate it when you open my mail" he scolded as Charmy floated right in front of him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a piece of work, now read this Chinese houses and trees and tell me what it means!" he toddler said shoving the paper enthusiastically into Espio's face. Espio wasn't in the mood for playing with Charmy right then, so he just took the paper and put it at his side.

"No, now leave me alone so I- wait... it's written in Chinese..?" Espio was about to dismiss the boy, but the idea of Chinese being sent to him in a scroll (different from the normal letters in English, that he insisted the mailman roll into a scroll, for nostalgia reasons), intrigued him. Quickly, Espio pulled the paper to his face and began reading the familiar characters in near desperation.

"Yeah... unless this is what morse code looks like written down..." Charmy mused, ignoring the look on Espio's face when he finished reading the mysterious scroll.

"..." his silence was nothing like Espio's usual silences. No, this silence caused the steel nerved ninja to shake where he stood. His tea, safely held in his hand now decorated the wooden planks that made up their floorboards. His face a much paler shade of magenta than the rest of him, Espio was... terrified.

"SOOO?! What's it say, what's it say, what's it sayyyy?!" and Charmy couldn't see that.

" _Kako ni wa, shinu koto wa arimasen_..." he said breathlessly. Absentmindedly he covered his mouth, hating the words exiting his mouth.

"IN ENGLISH, ESPIOOOO!" Charmy whined ignorantly. Espio quickly pulled his hand away from his mouth and realized that he was clutching the paper tighter than he intended. What was this?

"It doesn't matter-" he tried to explain, turning around to walk back to his room. But Charmy wouldn't let it go.

"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell-!" the bee annoyingly chanted. He was not going to let Espio run away from him. And man was he using the most annoying way to get the interpretation out of him.

"Stop that-" the older man tried to command.

"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell m-!" But clearly to no effect.

"Charmy, cease this-" Espio tried again.

"Tell me! Tell me! Tell-!" But Charmy persisted.

"Child, leave me, right now-!" the chameleon was losing it.

"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Te-!" Charmy repeated as he moved closer and closer to the unhinged Espio. The reptilian ninja was hardly in control of his movements, the suddenness of this cryptic message, what it meant for the future, what it meant for his past, how he was going to figure out what to do, it was too much. And Charmy's incessant pestering was getting old, real fast. On reflex alone, he grabbed one of his kunai knives that remain on his person and fought the overwhelming urge to lunge at the badgering bee.

And just as he thought he couldn't contain himself any more-

"CHARMY!" Vector shouted loud enough to shake the whole building. Charmy instantly stopped talking and the surprise of Vector's appearance gave Espio the clarity he needed to holster his weapon. Charmy, now feeling out of line for his behavior looked at Vector fearfully. The crocodile was not happy.

"..." the bee remained silent, hoping that if he stayed quiet enough, Vector wouldn't be so scary looking. He was wrong. Vector was highly upset, more so than the time Charmy replaced his music with recordings of airplane take offs. The boy seriously thought the muscular crocodile would really hurt him. Like, break his skull or something. And as Vector walked toward him, Charmy, quickly backed as far from him as he could, which wasn't far, considering there was a wall not 2 feet behind him. Vector loomed in front of Charmy, his intimidation palpable, his expression furious.

"Let. This. Go." he said through gritted, sharp teeth.

"But Vector-" Charmy tried to say, but in an effort to escape Vector's imposing gaze, he saw Espio. He really looked at him for the first time since he gave him the letter. The chameleon, normally cool, calm, and collected, was a frantic, shivering mess, compared to the norm. Of course even in his less dignified moments, Espio was more dignified than either of his teammates. But still, Espio wasn't supposed to look like that, nothing scared him... but here he was... terrified. And that made the words die in Charmy's throat.

"Kid, I mean it... Don't... It's personal..." Vector sighed, his anger subsided once he saw that the boy understood how this effected Espio. The crocodile turned off his intimidation and went into a more paternal mode, making Charmy feel more relaxed.

"... oh... why didn't you just say that?" he whispered to his older companion, wishing to be sensitive to the still silent Espio.

"Because it's THAT personal, Charmy" the detective laid a large hand on Charmy's side, wanting to keep his attention.

"..." the chameleon stayed still for a moment, before quickly walking through some doors to his room that lied deeper in the building.

"Espio, wait!" called the child, who wriggled out of Vector's hold, but the large reptile grabbed him by his head before he could follow after their mysterious acting comrade.

"He needs some alone time now, kid. Let's let him have it..." he ordered as he gently pulled the bee back to his original spot, hovering right next to the wall. Charmy glanced at Vector curiously, then back at the doors Espio escaped to, and returned his gaze to Vector, knowing his instructions were right. The two of them walked to the kitchen in silence and moved to sit at the table.

"... Vector... do you know what all that means?" Charmy finally got the courage to ask.

"... yeah, I do" Vector answered after a moment of silence. He let the answer hang in the air, content not answering it. But of course, Charmy was not. He was too curious to let this go completely.

"... well what does it-" he started, but the crocodile decided giving him what he wanted was best.

"It means someone died... ' _shinu_ ' means ' _dies_ ', Charmy..." solemnly answered Vector. That left Charmy with his mouth agape in horror, which bought some quiet, but not a comfortable one, and not a long one either.

"Did someone Espio knows die?!" the child asked, incredibly mortified. Vector leaned back in his chair, causing the cheap thing to creak uncomfortably.

"Maybe... but really, it's none of our business..." he answered maturely. The crocodile secretly wished he could be privy to the information, but saves his feelings about it for later.

"Was this guy Chinese?!" Charmy asked incredulously, making Vector smile, just a bit. The kid had a habit of making him do that.

"... Japanese, yes, most likely. Espio's from a village in Chun-Nan, Japanese is their national language. Maybe one of his friends died" the reptile guessed, sighing sadly afterwards.

"Awww man... that sucks..." Charmy commented, tears developing in his eyes. Vector got up and ran a cup under the kitchen sink.

"Yeah... it sucks rocks..." he said after turning back around, placing the cup in front of Charmy, and sitting back in his seat. The older man looked off into space, deep in thought as the boy drank his water to cool his emotions a little. He silently thanked Vector for not allowing him to cry in front of him. Drinking the last drop of tap water, Charmy eyed the inside of his cup, thinking about how Espio is taking this news. Wondering if he could do something, if anyone could do something. After several minutes of silence, he figured the best thing to do is ask the smartest person he knew.

"... what should we do?" whispered the bee, almost desperately. He looked up at Vector, but his head still faced the cup resting in his lap.

"Like I said... give him his space, Charm" the wise leader sighed, getting up from the table, walking over to Charmy, and holding his hand out expectantly. The bee slowly flew to Vector's shoulder and sat on the stable perch, leaning his head and folded arm on his scaly head.

"... alright" he agreed quietly. Vector walked them both out of the kitchen before walking to the living room and turning on some cartoons for the worrisome bee to unwind with.

It took a few hours, but Charmy got drowsy and fell asleep on the couch, allowing Vector to carry him to his room and tuck him in for the night. With the squirt finally down, the crocodile went outside and sauntered around to the back porch of the Chaotix agency. He was familiar with Espio's special spot and knew he needed to check on him without Charmy intruding.

When he rounded the corner and saw the magenta chameleon, sitting with a knee up to his chest and his other leg flat on the ground, his back hunched forward and his arm draped on the top of his knee, he knew his ninja associate wasn't doing so hot. If he were, he would be sitting in a meditative pose, you know, crisscross applesauce, with his hands in a ninja sign of some sort, back straight as a board.

But no, this sitting pose... it was wrong... Vector finally got out of his staring when he realized Espio had been looking at him from the corner of his eye the entire time he was standing there analyzing him. Well, he might as well continue his plan.

The tall crocodile calmly paced to his companion's side and sat on the alley wall adjacent to Espio's current perch. It was a good couple of feet away from the ninja, no matter what mood he was in, Espio liked his space and invading it was a mistake Vector was wise enough not to make. If Espio didn't like Vector's presence, he didn't say it or give him any reason to think so, he was more than willing to sit together silently.

And for a moment, they did. Vector had gotten to know the chameleon fairly well over the years. One thing he learned early on, if the shinobi is given enough time in comfortable silence with you and there is no eye contact being made, he will be willing to talk about whatever for a short period of time. So Vector was quiet and looking off into the same distance that Espio was, for a while, until he felt it safe to say something.

"... If you don't mind me askin'..." he started, but paused for a response.

"I do..." the chameleon said only half-sarcastically.

"You ok?" the crocodile finished, the sincerity of his voice causing Espio to shift his other knee up to his chest, his other arm slowly crossing to meet his elevated one.

"... Not particularly" whispered Espio candidly.

"Wanna talk about it?" his boss asked, not wanting to push it any further if Espio didn't want him to.

"... Not particularly" he said a little louder than his previous whisper.

"Figured... still, I just thought I'd-"

"Yeah... I know..." the ninja cut him off, saving him from having to explain his feelings of worry. He was grateful for his concern but... this wasn't something he wanted to talk about. It wasn't something he even wanted to think about.

"Glad you do, Espio..." Vector responded, thankful for his partner's understanding. Espio looked at Vector sadly, thinking all the while he didn't want to burden him or Charmy with any of this... whatever this actually was... their safety, their peace of mind, it meant more than talking about this. Besides, he was a ninja... bottling up emotions was one of the first things he was taught. Even though he didn't allow that teaching to take complete root inside of him, he did like to keep his emotions in check most of the time. And when they get out of hand, Espio made sure he didn't let too much control slip away from him.

He turned his gaze back at nothing and thought this was probably nothing anyway...

... no... that wasn't true...

It wasn't nothing... he knew that...

He just didn't want to admit it...

Vector let the silence reign for a few long moments before chiming in again, fearing the look on his normally stoic companion's face change more drastically than he desired to see.

"Just one more question though" he said, clearing his throat a little.

"If you must..." Espio sighed patiently.

"Who isn't dead or rather what isn't dead?" Espio turned to him, surprised he could translate a bit of the message.

"I regret teaching you that bit of Japanese" he chuckled, accidentally, but nonetheless made Vector's spirits lift a bit. He was making at least a bit of a difference on Espio and that was all that mattered to him right now.

"Yeeeah. Probably wasn't your best decision" the green reptile chuckled a bit, hoping to keep the good mood rolling.

"..." the chameleon going mute on him made him rethink his previous assumption that the chuckle was a sign of Espio's mood lifting. Maybe his time for talking was done already. Weird, he thought he had at least another 5 minutes left. Hmm, this must be really serious to mess with his timing like that.

"You know what, it's fine. Don't tell me, really. It's okay, maybe it's too private to share with-"

"The past" Espio kept him from further backing out.

"Huh?" Vector quietly grunted. The ninja looked at him for a moment, took in his earnest and understanding eyes, and knew he had to tell him something. He couldn't leave him without a bit of a clue, that wouldn't be right.

"The past never dies. That's what the message said..." Espio explained before averting his eyes to the void, keeping the eye contact from getting out of line.

"... hm..." Vector quietly hummed to himself. It was a cryptic, disturbing statement for anyone, let alone a former ninja assassin. This was definitely more serious than he could have imagined. He looked at the now space-staring chameleon, his expression less fearful, more complex than simple fear or paranoia.

"Yes... it's as I feared..." he said more to himself than Vector. The crocodile slowly moved to his feet and stepped to Espio's side for a moment.

"..." they both remained silent, but Vector slowly moved his hand to Espio's slender shoulder, hoping to provide some sort of comfort to him. I mean, really, what else could he have done? He couldn't tell him everything was going to be alright when he didn't even know what was going on, and he couldn't offer his help for the exact same reason. This was all he could offer.

"Vector no offense but I... I sincerely desire to be alone right now..." when Espio said this, it was clear that even the shoulder grab wasn't effective either. Right now, Vector, despite trying his best, couldn't do anything for Espio. All he could do... was try not to take it personal and let him know that he was there for him even if he didn't want him there right now.

"If you don't mind..." Espio asked looking up at the towering crocodile. He removed his hand from Espio's form and smiled sadly at him.

"Say no more, man... dinner's in the fridge whenever you're ready to eat... It's instant ramen..." Vector kindly said as he opened the back door, behind Espio and stepped back inside the house.

"My favorite" Espio chuckled again, grateful for Vector's efforts. Truly grateful, no matter how small or great the attempts to make him feel better were. But he just wasn't ready to feel better yet.

Vector grinned appreciatively down at Espio, keeping his eye on him for just a few seconds longer. He knew he wasn't really doing much to help with whatever past that isn't dead rearing its ugly head back into Espio's life. But the little things meant something in the long run and he knew the chameleon knew that, which is what earned him just a little bit of a deeper look into Espio and a freaking chuckle to boot. It warmed the old croc's heart, bonding with his teammates. But, he didn't want to push it, the guy DID just ask to be alone.

"... Welp, I better go get Charmy. Keep him from doing something crazy and/or stupid" he joked before going back inside the house. He knew Espio knew the kid was asleep, but he couldn't tell him what he was actually about to do; stay up all night worrying about what Espio was going to do in retaliation to this cryptic message. And he was going to pretend he got a full night's sleep and try his damnedest to make tomorrow feel as normal as possible for him.

"... thanks Vector..." Espio said quietly under his breath. He knew exactly what Vector was going to do and he knew he wouldn't stop letting the ninja know that he was there for him. And Charmy, in his own way, was sure to offer any help he could. He knew that nothing could stop the sender of this message from bringing his past on broadcast to them. And that was something he would NOT let them do.

He fought hard to get away from his past and he wasn't going to let him turn him into the... monster he used to be. Since he decided to leave that life behind, he's met wonderful people, made a new life for himself, and kinda been adopted by two of the kindest people he had ever met. And even though they aren't rich, they've always somehow got instant ramen noodles for him to enjoy.

So whatever the sender of this message was planning, did the shinobi seriously have anything to worry? No matter what happens, they wouldn't look at him any differently, they would still be willing to stay with him... it's just... The chameleon clutched his stomach stressfully, thinking of the most horrible question that has been rattling around his head the entire day:

How would they feel if they found out he was... an assassin?


	6. Charmy (almost) Goes To The Moon

_Hey guys! So a couple of things before you read this one: 1) I have gotten quite a few requests to continue the Espio centric oneshot and I'm making plans to do that at some point, so worry not! That specific story WILL be followed up by some more chapters in the future! 9v9_

 _2) Sorry this took so long and thanks for your patients! ^v^ I was stuck on prompts/topics to write about, so I just kinda didn't write anything. So! In order to keep this from happening again, I would appreciate it if you guys threw some ideas at me for a oneshot! I only ask that you keep it simple, such as, Charmy goes to the dump, or Charmy breaks a vase, nothing super detailed. I'd like to keep these simple so they're faster to crank out and easier to take anywhere, narratively speaking. If you have an idea for a story, I'd love to hear it! Message me, put it in a review, whatever you want to do is fine with me! And again, I would absolutely appreciate it and mention you as the originator of the oneshot!_

 _3) Since the serious Espio fic got SO MUCH LOVE, I'd like to do more semi-serious fics for Charmy and possibly Vector. If this is something you want to see, let me know~ oh but don't worry, I still want to make silly nonsense oneshots, so those won't go away. It's just, if you want to see some MORE serious situations with the characters, I'd be willing to comply! So let me know what you're thinking, and above all else, enjoy this one! ;D_

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"Hurry up, Foxy!" said the impatient bee hovering over the older twin tailed mechanic. His orangish-yellow body was underneath the rudimentary engine of some hurriedly made contraption. The sounds of him tightening screws and welding pieces together was clear, but the annoying boy buzzing about him didn't seem to care. So after tightening a set of drill bits, Tails rolled himself from under the metal contraption and looked up at Charmy impatiently.

"Charmy, this isn't just some simple projectile. It's literally rocket science" he explained, rubbing the sides of his head. His face covered in oils and engine lubricant, causing him to stink slightly, evident by Charmy waving his small hand back and forth under his nose.

"All I'm hearing is a bunch of talking, not a bunch of spaceship finishing!" Charmy yelled back. The black striped child had been waiting FOREVER for Tails to finish this thing. He could have watched, like, 7 WHOLE EPISODES of his favorite cartoon, Dyno Bots from the Planet Zorr: Animated Series of an Animation. Ugh, how hard could this be, the nerdy fox had built spaceships before, what's taking him so loooooong?

"Why am I building this anyway-?" Tails murmured angrily, yet continued to work on the spaceship, which was looking very rudimentary at the moment.

"Hush up, Foxy and make it snappy! I need to get to outer space as soon as possible!" Vigorously pointing and gesturing, the little bee called Tails' attention skyward, the faintest hints of the Moon could be seen past the snow white clouds, however, Tails wasn't paying much attention to that, he was trying to find the right piece of scrap to attach to this side of the baydoors.

"Yeah, remind me why you want to do that again?" Tails asked nonchalantly, measuring with his tails the length of a piece of metal before throwing it back into a pile and going to an identical separate pile of scrap to find the right sized piece. As he walked from Charmy, the kid flew above Tails' moving body and stared at him upside down, encroaching on his personal space.

"1 word, Foxy: The Moon" Charmy declared with one finger pointed up (but actually down because he was upside down). Tails looked at him bewildered for a moment, before pinching the fur inbetween his eyes from sheer annoyance. He stood still for a moment and went to pick up a piece from the pile.

"What's on the moon, Charmy?" he sighed sarcastically, mocking him inwardly, yet feeling a sense of accomplishment when he picked the right piece for the baydoors, although it did require some cutting. Where did he put that power saw..?

"Hey, am I paying you to ask me a bunch of stupid questions or to build me a spaceship?" harshly stated the bee.

"... you aren't paying me..." Tails corrected, looking up from the piece he held to glare at the landscape in front of him, almost as if he had just realized that fact.

"And I never will if you don't hurry it up!" Charmy finished definitively, knowing he had won the argument, blissfully unaware of how dumb the statement was.

"You're an idiot..." But Tails was sure to let him know just how dumb it was.

"Right! And that's why you're the nerd building me a spaceship, and I'm drinking delicious lemonade" corrected the bee right after going back to the Chaotix front porch and reclaiming his kiddie cup with a straw and a mini umbrella. He took a long obnoxious sip as he looked at Tails from the corner of his eye, the look of satisfaction plastered on his face.

Tails inhaled quickly and turned his head to counter Charmy's pervious insult... but the logic of it had him frozen in place. Whatever he could say, died on his tongue as he realized just how stupid this situation was... and how stupid he was for allowing himself to be in it.

"... Dang it, Charmy..." he thought to himself as he furiously continued to work on the cheap looking rocket ship. Just as Tails resumed working, much to Charmy's delight, the man of the house came outside to see what all the hubbub was about.

"Charmy, what is all this?" Vector grumbled out curiously, with a slight hint of amusement. This kid was always up to something... Said kid had dropped his drink on the grassy lawn right in front of the porch steps and flew into Vector's chest, awarding him a quick good morning hug.

The buff croc didn't want to admit it, but the little boy almost made him take a step back when he flew into him. He was getting stronger... Vector wasn't sure if that was a good idea or a bad one right then, but he filed it away for later.

"Hey Vector! It's a spaceship! I'm going to the MOOOOON!" announced the rambunctious boy, looking up at his boss. He placed his hands over his head and slowly spread them to his sides for added effect on the word "moon". And darn it, Vector couldn't help but chuckle at it.

"Really?" he half-laughed, looking down at Charmy. The energetic kid finally left his personal space and curled into a ball quickly before popping out of the pose into a fully open pose, as if he was pretending to be an explosion.

"Yeah!" shouted the excited Charmy, a wide grin on his face.

"Why do you wanna go to the moon, kid?" Vector asked, walking down the steps and toward the piles of junk in the yard. God, he didn't feel like cleaning this up later... maybe the kid being stronger would be a good thing after all...

"For the legendary mythical Moon cheese of course!" shouted the bee before he flew down to his feet and placed his small foot on top of a rock. He quickly puffed his chest out, placed a hand on his hip, and rolled his neck up and over his shoulder, facing the faded partial image of the Moon in the blue sky.

The look on his face was steeled and determined, hilariously opposite to his composure literally 3 seconds ago. He reached a hand up right below his chin and dramatically clenched it into a fist, not taking his eyes off of the far off rock.

"Today... that Moon cheese is as good as mine..." Charmy's voice came out like a impressively accurate imitation of a particular super villain from another one of his favorite shows: Super Duper Scooper, the Ice Cream Hero! He'll give villains a brain freeze they'll never forget! Because it will be a brain freeze... OF JUSTICE!

Blast it, Charmy watched the shows so much and played them so loud, Vector couldn't keep the vivid, nauseating memory of the show's opening from surfacing in his mind. For Pete's sake, how in the world did he watch that garbage? It was the most annoyingly, spastic, random, insane show he had ever-

Wait...

Never mind, that show is perfect for him.

"You're nuts, kid..." he finally said in a deep voice, playfully jesting. Charmy just smiled back at him in response and resumed his normal personality flying back to Vector's eye level.

"Well, yeah, what else is new? Wanna come with?" the youth said nonchalantly, before asking excitedly, a certain sparkle appearing in his growing eyes. The crocodile didn't have any defense against them, especially so early in the morning, before his 3rd cup of coffee. It was probably the lack of caffeine that kept him from thinking of a valid excuse to bail on this little adventure.

"... Yeah sure" said the towering emerald reptile, shrugging his large shoulders as he did. The kid wanted to play and he had nothing better to do, besides... what's the worse that could happen?

"Really?!" pleasant surprise filled the chubby face of the young bee and Vector just knew he had made the right decision. Seeing him like that, so happy and full of life, really made him feel... bah, he wouldn't give the squirt the satisfaction of thinking that.

"Yeah, I always wanted to go to the moon" Vector playfully mentioned as he walked up to the still unfinished rocket ship. Which, now that Vector thought about it, WAS well made and in a quick amount of time. Like, from the time he came outside to this moment right now, so like a minute. Within a minute it had gone from looking like modern art, to looking like it was nearly complete. Man, that double tailed kid worked FAST. Well, hanging with Sonic all the blasted time, he just ought to.

"Then let's go, Foxy boy!" the young bossy kid shouted to his "partner". Slave would be more accurate.

"Still not ready!" Tails shouted, poking his head from a newly welded wing, which just so happened to have part of his sigil on it. After shouting, Tails quickly revealed a spray paint can in his hand and continued the symbol.

"Well, it'll have to do. I'm sick of waiting! To the stars!" impatiently responded the yellow striped boy as he flew to Tails.

"If you try to take this into space you will literally implode when you get to the stratosphere. IF you can even GET to the stratosphere, this thing could fall apart as soon as you take off. Scratch that, it most definitely will fall apart a few seconds after take off" the fox warned semi-concerned, but not really. Charmy simply looked at Tails before putting his hands over his head and saying one of the dumbest things he's ever said.

"Not if we... bee-lieeeeeeve~" his arms moved in an arc reminiscent of a rainbow forming over his helmet clad head. Vector, finally catching up with the hyperactive kid, heard and saw his youngest teammate and his expression was the same as the mechanical genius standing next to him. Utterly stupefied and annoyed to the point where his head was starting to hurt something fierce.

For a moment all of them stood frozen in uncomfortable silence, with Charmy still maintaining his pose and Tails' brow wrinkling more and more. Vector, simply looking between them wondering when he would be let out of this awkward situation.

"... Are you freaking serious?" Tails bitterly asked the insect, breaking the staring contest between them.

"Yep. Now move over, Foxy boy. We're going to the Moon and non believers aren't allowed!" pushing Tails aside, he flew into the shoddy cockpit and proceeded to spin in the pilot's chair, which sounded like it was screaming for help with all of the squeaking it was doing. The larger reptile nervously maneuvered into the small rocket door, hoping he didn't mess anything up with his height.

"Should we bring Espio in on this?" he mentioned, plopping himself on the entire floor of the cockpit seeing as there was no chair big enough for him. Charmy tilted his head to the side, his antenna following suit, as he looked up and visually thought about Espio joining them. He wasn't sure if Espio would want to go... but then again, who WOULDN'T want to travel to the moon with him and Vector?

"Mmmm... okay!" was his cheerful answer before swiftly ducking his head out of a circular window.

"ES-PI-OOOOO~!" the excited insect called out as loud as possible. His immediate response was a window on the top floor of their building opening up, revealing the magenta ninja's profile.

"Whatever it is, no" nonchalantly replied Espio, before closing the window.

"Okaaaaaaay~!" Charmy responded pleasantly, not even thinking about taking it personally. Espio looked invested in something, not taking his eyes off of it. The bee assumed he was reading some book, like he always did. Laaaaame!

"Welp, he's busy! Let's go!" slamming the window shut, he moved back to the captain's chair and pulled his goggles over his eyes, grinning madly all the way. His scaly companion couldn't help but giggle a bit under his breath. He was certainly ready for an adventure.

"Engage thrusters! Power the quantum engine! Flip the shields to maximum power! REGULATE THE AIR CONDITIONER!" commanded the little captain of the ship, punching his fist in a random direction with every order. But his wise boss looked around and found no hints of anything he could engage, power, or flip.

"Uh, I don't think any of that is even in here... including the air conditioner..." his face contorting in discomfort, realizing just how hot it was in that glorified soda can. Charmy whirled his head out of the cockpit door in a huff.

"DANG IT, FOXY!" he called to Tails angrily.

"I TOLD YOU IT WASN'T READY, YOU SIMPLETON! PLUS MOST OF THAT STUFF IS BASIC NONSENSE YOU HEARD ON TV! THEY AREN'T REAL!" the little fox shouted back, using his arms to accent the not real part.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT BELIEVING, FOXY BOY?!" the bold insect retorted, pulling his head back into the ship and realizing all of the buttons were right on his dashboard.

"... I hope you crash so some sense can be knocked into your blockhe-"

"CAN'T HEAR YOU, THE AIR CONDITONERS ARE TOO LOUD!" interupted Charmy, as he vigorously pressed buttons, flipped switches, pulled levers, trying to get the chunk of junk moving.

"I-! You-! Just-! GAAAAH! WHY AM I HERE!?" stomped the irritated mechanic, grabbing the sides of his head in frustration.

"DON'T ASK ME, I DIDN'T TELL YOU TO COME OVER HERE!"

"YOU MOST CERTAINLY DID ASK ME TO COME HERE, YOU STUPID, LITTLE- wait, I THOUGHT YOU COULDN'T HEAR ME!"

"SORRY CAN'T HEAR YOU, THE GRAVITY REFRIGERATOR IS TOO LOUD!"

"... ARE YOU EVEN REAL?!" the twin tailed canine shouted, at his wits end.

"I'LL GET YA SOME MOON CHEDDAR TO HELP YA RELAX! BYE NOW!" Charmy quickly said before seeing something that looked like an ignition knob. The crocodile laughed quietly as the exchange between the two kids. It was just too much seeing how other people react to Charmy's special brand of crazy.

"You are something else, squirt. I'll give ya that..." the older man spoke, clearly entertained. But the small bee saw a blinking red button that was just too engaging to not be the start button.

"Let's light this candle!" he chuckled joyously as he slammed his finger onto the button and waited for the rocket to take off. Various humming sounds came from the entire rocket ship, to an excited kid all of this humming sounded like a prelude to an adventure. But to a mechanic, these sounds were an omen of a terrible fate.

An explosion erupted suddenly in the unfinished rocket engine, quickly propelling the metallic body and its two occupants into the air. The explosion steadily pushed them further and further into the air, soon they were high enough in the air for their house to appear no bigger than Charmy's pinkie finger. Although neither of them noticed, as they were too busy being compressed into the back of the cockpit, due to the sheer force accumulated by the takeoff.

Vector couldn't hear anything over the rumbling of the rocket, not even his own frantic screaming, nor Charmy's supremely excited cheering. All he knew was he was rising higher and higher and he wished he hadn't gotten onto the crazy thing after all. Vector thought it was a make believe rocket, he didn't think it would actually fly! He thought Tails was smart, why on Mobius would he make Charmy an functioning rocket!? Was he crazy?!

"WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOO HOOO HOOO!" bellowed the grinning bee, plastered against the back wall, but still excited for the eventual moon adventure he was about to experience. He could practically taste the moon cheese sticks! Unfortunately, he was too distracted by the imagined taste of the lunar treats to notice that the rocket was sputtering and rumbling uncontrollably.

The initial explosion had pushed them far, but it wasn't a constant burning force to keep them propelled constantly. After that first explosion, the rocket continued from the after effects of it, eventually another explosion of lesser power kept them rising in the air, but after an even smaller third explosion, the engine broke off of the rocket. This third explosion is what the two of them, as it knocked them into a whirl as opposed to the straight vertical ascent they were used to from the first explosions.

With the twirling and flipping of the ship, the Chaotix members stuck to the wall were now free to flail about in the small cockpit. Vector, now able to hear himself screaming, tried to get out of the death trap cabin, Charmy looking at the panicking emerald reptile couldn't help but feel hopeless. He wasn't going to make it to the moon and now he was gonna die. Which was gonna suck pretty bad, considering there was a new episode of Super Duper Scooper was coming on later that week.

Vector managed to get enough room to hit a large hole in the ship, pushing off of the nearest surface to grab the stunned Charmy, then get them both outside of the free-falling piece of trash. He let a deep sigh of relief out, glad to be free from the rundown rocket... only to be still falling from a couple thousand feet in the air...

Yeah, this wasn't a better situation for him. The tough detective screamed his lungs out, the feeling of gravity increasing his speed making him feel fragile. But the uncharacteristically quieter Charmy wriggled free of his grasp and fluttered his translucent wings as fast as possible.

Slowly but surely, the speed of their descent dropped, until they were floating in the sky, Vector dangling from Charmy's small hands. Whew, he forgot the kid could fly for a second there! Before he could express his thanks, the flipping unoccupied collection of metal they had just escaped from fell to its demise, causing an epic explosion just a few meters from their house.

"Aww, dang it! That probably blew out our windows! That and the shrapnel is gonna make repairs a pain, aw man!" Vector lamented, adding up the cost to get all those repairs fixed in his head. And he didn't like the numbers he was ending up with.

"DANG IT FOXY! YOU PEE-PEE HEAD!" Charmy screamed furiously. He wasn't upset about the damages to his house. He wasn't mad about nearly dying in the rocket. He wasn't even mad that Tails currently wasn't here for him to yell at. You know what really pissed him off to no end?

HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO GET THE MOON AND TASTE THE CHEESY LUNAR GOODNESS!

All this work for nothing! That lying little nerd said he would make a rocket to get him to space! Ugh, he should have never trusted that furry little-

Well, hold on... Charmy could recall the fox warning him it wasn't done and that taking off right then would end badly... but he said it so boringly, he couldn't possibly LISTEN to what he was saying! He was so boring about it! So sadly, the little bee accepted his fate and floated himself and his massive green scalene friend back to the ground where they belonged.

Nightfall came and Charmy along with Vector were still outside, sitting on the porch, looking at unreachable place the melancholy insect wanted so badly to go to. It shined, beautifully yet arrogantly at the pair of adventurers. Charmy, sick of the silence, finally spoke up.

"Hey Vector?"

"Yeah, Charmy?" the crocodile looked over at him concerned.

"Is the moon actually made of cheese?" asked the innocent, naive boy. And Vector figured it was time for him to know the truth.

"Uh, 'fraid not, lil' guy" the detective rubbed the back of his head nervously. A moment of silence rose between them.

"... Then what's it made of?" Now that took him off guard. What could he say to that? He could tell him the truth, that it was just a big rock floating in space. But looking down at his face, sad and needing something to keep his spirits and childish sense of wonder alive... Vector knew what to say...

"It's made of moon pies... of course!" confidently declared the wise croc. Charmy quietly stared at him, squinting his eyes in what looked like disbelief. His broad shoulder boss wasn't sure if his obvious fib had been uncovered by the boy, but it certainly seemed like he made the wrong decision to try and preserve the boy's-

"That makes so much sense!" Charmy said, completely recovering from his earlier funk.

"Or not..." Vector thought to himself. It's a good thing the squirt was so gullible.

"Right?" the proud reptile said, covering up his earlier worry. Charmy completely turned to him, grinning from ear to ear and placing his fist directly under his chin in admiration of his boss.

"You're so smart, Vector!" he complimented genuinely.

"Heh heh heh, just a part of being a good detective!" The large croc posed, crossing his arms like a tough guy as he grinned smugly.

"Both of you are idiots..." spoke a gruff voice from behind them, causing them to turn and see their partner Espio, looking at them nonchalantly from the front door. Charmy stuck his tongue out at him playfully before he laughed a bit.

"Espio's just jealous he's not a detective, like us!" merrily commented the now restored bee. Vector smiled at the sound. His little squirt kid would be fine.

"We all work at the Chaotix Detective Agency. Therefore we are all detectives-" Espio exasperatedly tried to correct the insolent child. However-

"Jeaaaaalous~" was his singsong response to the ninja's logical retort. The large mouthed Vector laughed out loud in response and Espio just wasn't trying to deal with this right now.

"... I'm going to my room"


	7. Charmy At the Dump

_Yo guys! Before you read, just know that I am still open to story suggestions. I've got a few lined up, but not nearly enough. Feel free to leave a suggested story in a review or a PM! Thanks in advance!_

 _So I don't know why this one didn't want to come together, but it was fighting me the whole way. XDDD Glad I got it finished for you guys though! Hope it's worth the wait!_

* * *

The smell. That's what met them before any sight of the place. The horrid, putrid odor of rotten food and scents of disgusting waste bombarded their senses with no remorse. And yes, not only the noses of the unfortunate group were violated, their tongues were as well. The visceral incomprehensible smell of the massive compound of garbage was so powerful that within moments of following the stench to its source, they found themselves gagging.

This phantom taste conjured up by their active imaginations working in tandem with their assaulted noses was nothing short of revolting. A putrid, rancid, bitter taste clutched their tastebuds in a way that nothing ever had before. This reeking, foul sensation was quite noxious for the three companions, it was almost surreal how incredibly tainted the atmosphere was. It was as if they had mistakenly slapped used barf bags on their faces and the contaminated aroma was only getting stronger as they pressed on toward their destination.

In this moment, Charmy was quite thankful that they had never been to the city dump before. This was the worst he had ever felt, including the time he ate all 31 flavors of ice cream with all the toppings in one sitting. He had never been so sick in his life and according to Espio, he was never going to get that sick by normal means again. The traumatized bee violently gagged, lurching his small body forward a bit, the memory of barfing up at least 3/4 of his body weight in ice cream still haunting to this day.

God, he was making all of this worse on himself. He knew that. But he couldn't help it, when the hyperactive bee experiences one traumatic event, he can't help but compare it to other ones he's survived. And WHOO HOO HOO BOY, DID **THIS** QUALIFY AS TRAUMATIZING. Throughout this seemingly endless trek, the suffering child looked toward his two older companions, secretly hoping they were feeling as bad as he was so he wouldn't feel alone in his agony.

And one look at Vector was all he needed to feel connected. The giant croc had one massive hand covering his long mouth, his cheeks puffed up as if they were full of something, and the other was placed on his striped underbelly. His walk was a lot different from usual, which ranged from rhythmic dance walking to confident, powerful strides. But right now, he was swaying and nearly tumbling over with each step, clearly feeling queasy.

A quick shift to the right of the struggling reptile, the normally rambunctious boy was surprised to see the stoic ninja keeping his composure. It was like he was in a completely different place than his writhing partners; the magenta shinobi's signature reserved attitude and maturity clear. Staring in awe of his older chameleon coworker, Charmy had failed to notice that Espio... wasn't breathing.

The young insect had no clue the various skills a ninja is trained to possess, the ability to hold one's breath for an unbelievably extended period of time was one such skill. Unfortunately, the masterfully great warrior... was nearing his time limit. Pretty soon, he was going to have to inhale, and he knew that would be the last thing he ever did. Once the group of detectives were within nose-shot of the dump, the chromatic lizard felt his stomach clench uncomfortably, and his breathing halted upon reflex. That was 5 minutes ago, his limit was 5 minutes 45 seconds.

Much to his delight however, the odious location that they were looking for finally came within view. The city dump was just a couple of blocks away! Without warning, a swift and strong hand grabbed the tiny floating bug and pulled him close, another grabbed the gold chain of the large aquatic reptile. And before either of the grabbed animals could say anything, Espio shot off like a rocket, carrying them across those city blocks in record time.

Charmy scarcely remembered crossing the threshold of the dumping yard's entrance, they moved so fast it was all a blur that suddenly came back in to focus and poof. They were in the smelly old dump. His emerald scaled boss, due to the sudden express trip from Espio and the horrid smell of the place multiplied by 10 from proximity, let out a strained oh no and turned his back to his teammates, before hurling violently onto the ground.

Young Charmy winced and averted his gaze, his brow wrinkled intensely, uncomfortable couldn't even describe how he felt right then. In fact, hearing Vector puking was inciting a familiar queasiness that always proceeded to the boy upchucking. Sticking two fingers in his tiny nostrils and covering that hand with his second, Charmy frantically looked around for some sort of solution to their predicament. He noticed Espio as well, his face turning blue and his eyes wider than dinner plates, which only made him look around faster.

With an excited gasp, Charmy had found their solution.

"OH MY GOD, GUYS LOOK! SMELL GOOD TREES!" pointed the yellow striped child, his finger leading his struggling friend's eyes to a large jar sitting at a makeshift front desk.

"CAR FRESHENERS!" Espio and Vector simultaneously screamed in delight, while hoofing it to the jar along with Charmy. After a violent assault on the now broken jar, the frantic Chaotix shoved the sweet smelling fragrance emitters into their faces. The collective inhale they all performed was laced with nothing but gratitude. Their subsequent sigh was more relieving than any of them every imagined it could be. For a moment, the trio just stood there, breathing deeply with the various plastic trees plastered on their faces.

"Ahhhh, that's so much better. Ahh, mmm, can I get-" the content Vector spoke airily, before stammering as he reached on the ground for four more trees.

"I'm just gonna- yep..." is all he could manage as he tied the additional fragrance trees on the end of his long upper jaw. With another powerful sniff, the macho crocodile was back to feeling content.

"Thaaaaaat's the stuff..." deeply exhaled the happy detective. His smaller companions nodded in agreement as Charmy mimicked his boss exhaling loudly. Espio, finally regaining his breathing, tidied up Charmy's car fresheners, the over excited sprout had basically turned his head into a christmas tree with the small plastic scent enhancers as ornaments.

"Not like I care or anything, but this is one of the many benefits of owning a car, Vector" the magenta hue ninja reminded his leader, still fixing his youngest companion's tangled mess of car fresheners. The hyperactive bee, now free from the offensive almost deadly stench of the garbage around him, squirmed and wriggled around awkwardly, wanting to go explore. But Espio retained his gentle grip on the young one, whispering for him to keep still for a few moments longer.

"Oh come on, Espio, don't start that again" an exasperated Vector responded, realizing his own car freshener accessories should be spruced up a bit. Thick fingers gingerly moved to the tip of his emerald hue snout as the strings tangled on his face began to loose and systematically unravel to a more orderly fashion.

"I'm just saying, it's something we should really think about, there are many advantages to having a vehicle" wisely pointed out the shorter adolescent, standing to his full height and nodding to the youth he had just managed to refine a bit. With the nod, Charmy giggled excitedly, his eyes shining with anticipation, before he floated to the sky once again and flew in a random direction. But not without thanking the subtly doting Espio for helping him out.

"Espio... with what money can we buy a car?" the slightly annoyed giant asked rhetorically, pulling the last rainforest mist fragrance tree to line up with the other various scents. The smaller chameleon finally turned to fully face the massive crocodile looking down on him, an unamused expression adorning his visage, made slightly comical, because of the swaying car fresheners under his horn.

"We would have more money if you didn't take freebee jobs like this current one" chastised the sharp lizard, earning him a more upset expression from his bulky associate. Vector leaned in closer to the taut bodied martial artist, glaring defensively at the heliotrope teen.

"Hey, if a little old lady came up to YOU and asked YOU to help find her diamond necklace that her dead husband gave her for their 1st anniversary, I'd like to see you say no!" countered the chivalrous leader. Vector could recall her pleading face even now, heartbroken and needing his help.

"I wouldn't have said no, I would have said, "that'll be about 50 dollars an hour, ma'am. Cash or check only, no credit" intelligently replied the lean ninjitsu master, shocking the gigantic crocodile before him.

"You'd break the poor old lady's heart, you cold insensitive jerk!" Vector shouted almost disgusted.

"And you think it's better to waste all our effort on something that's not going to financially benefit the-" Espio sensibly argued before a sudden familiar voice shoehorned its way in their argument.

"GUUUUUUUUYS!" pleasantly called their young insect, who had been absent for a couple minutes now.

"WHAT, CHARMY?!" Vector and Espio simultaneously whipped their heads in his direction, irritated at each other and now him. But that irritation was soon replaced by shock.

Little Charmy had gotten into a pile of garbage and decided to make himself a robot suit of some sort. He had taken tin cans of all sizes and wrapped them in radial form around his limbs and torso. On top of his helmet, a broken bowl strainer was resting, his antennas sticking strangely out of two random holes in the strainer. Lastly, he had made shoulder pads out of two halves of an ironing board. To top it all off, he was posing in a ridiculous, boastful stance, reminiscent of a corny super hero movie scene.

"LOOK, I'M THE CANINATOR!" he announced in bubbly innocence, his arms now raised above his head excitedly. But doing so made the strainer drop lower on his head, covering his eyes, yet Charmy's expression did not waver at the subtle change. His older caretakers continued to stare in silence, not really sure how to react at first.

"... pfft!" Espio, much to everyone's surprise, sputtered out an amused laugh, losing his composure a bit as he bent his knees a bit and placed his hands on them for support. The normally uninterested shinobi's outburst, immediately caused the robust scaly colossus to blurt out laughter, deep and uncouth, but genuine. And Charmy, not knowing what else to do, laughed right along with them.

"Ha ha ha ha, squirt! Ya crack me up!" Vector barked between laughs, a joyful tear climbing to his green eyelid, quickly brushed away by a thick finger.

"Very creative Charmy. But we should focus on the task at hand" the smirking, but emotionally recovered investigator said, earning him a look from the towering emerald scaled man.

"Even though we're not getting paid for it?" coyly mentioned the music loving crocodile, a smug look on his face. Espio simply walked away from him as he replied.

"You're adamant about doing this, I'm tired of arguing with you about it, Charmy's the caninator, let's just get this done. Besides we can't let down a little old widow, now can we, boss?" the heliotrope chameleon reminded his larger companion, turning his head to shoot him an understanding glance. There was nothing wrong with helping an elderly widow for free, and there was nothing wrong with Vector for standing by his altruistic nature. At least THIS TIME, there was nothing wrong with his altruistic nature.

"Heh, that's the right attitude!" Vector grinned proudly, his long jaws producing an interesting smile. The broad shouldered reptile turned swiftly and called out to one of the very few people who worked in the dump. The man scurried over to the towering Vector, secretly scared of his intimidating visage. But after a moment of speaking with him, the smaller mammal warmed up to the gentle croc. Even after Vector had finished speaking to him, he produced his hand to amicably shake Vector's, which dwarfed his as just two fingers were enough to swallow the worker's paw.

Taking a few swift steps back to the waiting Chaotix members, the massive leader began to relegate their situation, "Alright boys! According to the dump guy, all the trash from that lady's neighborhood is over in Section G, so let's head over there and start searching!"

"You know, that actually doesn't sound too bad. We might get out of here quicker than I thought" the toned ninjitsu expert said in calm surprise as the group of three went to find Section G, Vector leading the way since the dump guy probably told him the way to Section G. The excitable bee flew in front of his enormous friend's face, gasping in surprise.

"REALLY?! When can we go back home?! In 5 minutes?! 2 MINUTES?!" Charmy questioned hopefully, his caninator suit loosing a couple of cans as he moved into Vector's personal space.

"Uhhhh... maybe not that quick sport" honestly corrected Vector, wincing a little as he did it. He really wasn't eager to spend a long time here, considering he didn't know how long the car fresheners would last. But they had been walking at a pretty brisk place and Section G wasn't in sight yet. Not to mention these sections were very, very large. Charmy's smile fell just a little as he nodded in understanding, slowing up to float behind Vector's head.

"Okay, you're right, that makes sense, we still have to get to the Section B pile" the yellow striped bug reasoned to himself.

"That's Section G, Charmy" dispassionately corrected Espio, his eyes half lidded and focused ahead of him.

"Yeah, don't care" the young boy waved off his more mature associate. A slightly annoyed pout was the chameleon's reaction, but Charmy didn't notice. "So I'll have to be more realistic with the timing..." continued Charmy, placing a hand on his plump cheek, his head tilted to the side as they continued walking through the smelly garbage piles.

"That's it exactly, Charm. Now let's get to it!" Vector kindly chimed in, finally seeing Section G in the distance.

"Yeah! We'll be home in 8 minutes!" the tiny, happy-go-lucky youth celebrated in ignorant bliss. Snapping out of his comfortable stoicism, Espio looked up at the flying hyperactive child with a puzzled squint.

"... Do you know what a minute is?" asked the shinobi chameleon, sincerely wanting to know, while still being passive-aggressive about it.

"It's like half of an hour or something, right?" Charmy answered quickly with no waver in his excitement. Espio remained quiet for a couple of seconds, sure that he had already taught the boy how units of time work.

"... We need to go over units of time when we get home" the authoritative magenta shade man ordered blandly, returning his gaze forward.

"Okay, let's meet up as soon as we get home in 10 minutes" replied his bubbly compatriot, not realizing how dumb he sounded. With a mildly annoyed sigh, the disciplined reptilian placed a gloved hand on his brightly colored forehead.

" _Yare yare daze..._ " was his quiet oriental lament. This child was going to drive him insane one day...

With a few more quick paced steps, the ragtag detectives made it to Section G. It was identical to all the other piles of garbage they walked past, and they were thankful that there was some sort of organization in this place. Yet, the daunting size of the mound was more prevalent than their slight optimistic view of the dump.

"I take back what I said... this is going to take a lot longer than I thought..." the magenta Espio said dryly, making sure to give his emerald shade employer a stabbing look. Said green reptile felt the cold, ominous golden eyes of the lean shinobi and a wave of nervous panic arose in his gut. Vector sheepishly shot him an uncomfortable smile while raising his shoulders for a sluggish shrug, sweat coming off of him a little.

"Aw man, we're gonna be here for like 30 minutes! That's like half of my life!" complained the airborne infant, drooping his entire visage like a saggy sack. Again, Espio looked up at the child, squinting in mild disbelief of how dumb that statement was.

"... We're definitely going over the concept of time in detail when we get home, _kozou_ " instructed the serious heliotrope chameleon. This was getting out of hand, even for the bee.

"Awwwww man! This whole day is gonna suck!" whined Charmy in his high pitched, childish voice.

"Come on kid, be a man and start shifting through this garbage!" Vector commanded in his bossy tone, diving his massive hand into the waste pile immediately after. Espio sighed deeply before doing the same, albeit with more finesse. With pleading eyes, the crafty lad hoped they would give him a pass on this annoying task. Unfortunately for him, his older reptile companions weren't even looking at him, rendering his persuasive childish look useless. So, with a heavy heart, the melancholy insect resigned himself to this fate of boredom. With his dignity and maturity in tact.

"UGHHHHHHHHHHHH... you guys are the worst!" Charmy immaturely whined, before throwing a classic temper tantrum. Okay so he wasn't keeping his dignity or maturity intact, but that didn't matter. The black striped boy just wanted out of here... however even the might of his childish outburst wasn't enough to get his caretakers to turn their attention toward him. With a dissatisfied pout, the young half-pint flapped his translucent wings and fluttered himself over the massive mound of trash bags. Reluctantly and moaning obnoxiously all the way.

Upon gaining a higher vantage point, the small, round-faced, arthropod saw an... interesting sight. It must have been special trash pick up earlier that week because there was a lot of... peculiar items in with the normal stuff. Interest piqued, Charmy flew down to the pile, a couple of meters from Vector and Espio's spot.

The items collected under him, as he studied them, looked... familiar. There was this weird pad, with a grey treadmill thing on it. And even though it was clearly broken and not plugged into anything, it was still moving in the direction of the arrows. Oh yeah, there were arrows painted on it, hazard stripes colored on the front and rear boarders of it's rectangular form. It was quite weird. And when he put his tiny hand on the staggering conveyor belt, it suddenly launched it and by extension, him into a pile of garbage a couple feet from where the panel was.

He collided with significant force, yet he popped to his feet a second after impacting the garbage pile, a wide, mischievous grin on his face. Quickly, the hyperactive bee grabbed whatever trash was within arm's length and chucked it at the panel. Every item that landed on the conveyor belt, no matter it's weight or size, was launched across the air, entertaining the excitable boy immensely.

Wanting to see more wanton small scale destruction, rambunctious fingers grabbed onto a random item, their oblivious owner not even looking to see what was being clutched in his tiny hand. However, the odd texture of the unseen object caught his attention, causing the imaginative yellow striped insect to turn and appease his curiosity.

There in his hand, a metal pole connected to what looked like a red ball. It was hidden under some trash bags, so Charmy thought he'd liberate it with a strong pull. Upon it's release, the investigative child could see that it was in fact a red ball it was connected to. Must have been an antique or something, it had a simple design with a yellow post bottom with light grey stripes, metal stretch rod and a red bulb on the top. Only the red bulb was totally broken and the whole thing looked rusty.

Yup, definitely an antique, he thought to himself. Too bad it was broken, maybe he could have given it to Espio, he likes old stuff. Tossing the broken lamppost to the side, something else buried under random trash caught Charmy's attention. With a playful squatting and standing motion, the trash revealed another puzzling sight.

Another perpetually moving object, this one was a lot more colorful than the dash pad. It looked like a barrel, but like for a circus. The rotating barrel was red with rows of white diamond shapes on it, spinning slowly, almost tempting the easily influenced bug to stand on it. And he did, with a joyful leap his little shoes connected to its top, slowly spinning the excited boy. But after a long stretch of time spent turning in place, Charmy got bored again.

"Well that was a letdown. Aren't you supposed to... DO SOMETHING other than spin in place all day?! Why do you exist, you dumb barrel!?" complained the irritated toddler, kicking the thing spitefully. But that wasn't enough for him, the aggressive bee lifted the disappointing and frankly meaningless cylinder and threw it far away, hoping no one would ever happen upon it again.

Huffing in annoyance, Charmy walked back to the dash pad, knowing that it would still be entertaining at least. However, he took a step on something which sprung him forward and into the air a couple of inches each. Staggering to stop himself from falling over, the curious colorful arthropod turned around to examine just what this new toy could be.

The questionable item was a two plated stapler looking device. The top plate was red and white, set at an angle, with two circles on each side, white stars in them. The bottom plate was straight compared to the angled top plate, with a black finish and a spring resting between the front top of this bottom one and the front bottom of the first plate. Charmy, testing how it worked, pressed down on the top plate with one finger, the spring coiling in response, and upon release, the top plate pushed upward before settling back down.

This gave the imaginative youth an idea. He flew his tiny body back a few feet, to give himself a running start. When he sprinted forward and finally stepped on the catapult, he was sent cartwheeling in the air, flying speedily and wonderfully out of control, the cheering boy laughed all the way before falling through a pile of garbage bags and getting hidden by them.

With a swift, surprisingly powerful pump of his fists, the few garbage bags that had completely covered Charmy were flying off of his small form, revealing the laughing chubby cheeked bee. This action also allowed him to find yet another curious thing, which he appeared to be standing on. Fluttering his see-through wings, the adorable kid pulled out a large flat circle. It was a large metallic disc, who's face had red outer rims, its middle rim was grey and in the center it had a blue circle with yellow edges and a yellow star in the middle.

A strange feeling came over Charmy when he looked at this item. It was almost as if he'd seen it somewhere before. It was quite colorful... maybe he had seen it in an arcade or an amusement park or something like that. Its design gave off the overwhelming sense that one was supposed to hit its center circle and the rambunctious young insect was never one to shy away from hitting stuff.

With a light press of his stubby index finger, the center of the target switch was pressed deeper into itself. Immediately, the large disc spun like a coin flipping through the air, causing the ignorant boy to yelp in surprise. Once it had reached a considerably high altitude, it exploded into glittering sparkles, with no trace left behind. The expression on Charmy's face was hilarious confusion, not knowing whether to be mad or slightly impressed or surprised at what just happened. He went with slightly impressed and returned his gaze to his garbage surroundings.

Which, now that he thought about it, had a plethora of rails running through it. Like, an un believable amount of rails. Rails that started out of nowhere and ended out of nowhere with nonsensical twist and turns in the middle. One would question the laws and physics of the world they inhabited if they had even the slightest amount of maturity. But thankfully, Charmy simply opted to riding on the gravity defying stretches of metal.

With speeds rivaling Shadow the Hedgehog, the extremely bubbly and ever skillful insect sped through the entirety of Section G, even moving through the boundaries of Sections F and H, laughing excitedly all the way. Who knew the dump could be so thrilling? As he moved through the landscape, the railing suddenly dived deep into the trash mound. This would have terrified someone else, but Charmy just focused some of his red-orange inner energy to his index fingers and blasted away all the trash in his way, not losing any speed whatsoever.

"WOOOOOOOOO! HAHAHAHAHA! BRING IT OOOOOON!" he screeched happily in a high pitched voice full of joy. The continuous twists and turns of the rail ride was engrossing, Charmy's fingers blasting countless bags from his path, spinning his body and arms in a crazy dance of acrobatics, while digging himself a trail in the mounds of trash he traveled through.

Eventually, the railing took an inclined direction that led out of the dense pile of garbage, the boy inwardly thanking God that the car fresheners were still dangling under his nose after all that.

Finally running out of road, Charmy jumped from one of the random ends of the tangled mess of rails and landed in approximately the same place he originally got on.

"Hee hee hee hee hee! That was AWESOOOOOOME!" giggled the adventurous ball of energy, as he floated in the air a bit, sheer adrenaline coursing through him. Eager to find something else in the wonderful piles of adventure, but really trash, although Charmy refused to think of this Section G of the dump as a pile of waste. He now liked to think of it as "Section Good random stuff" rather than just Section G. Something reflecting sunlight caught the corner of his wide eyes, so eager to investigate whatever new wonders, the little tot floated quickly to the shining surface.

Upon inspection, the wise junior detective deduced... it was a computer. Huh, he's was expecting... something more abnormal than that. Plopping his light round body on the surface of the pile, Charmy placed the cracked and dented device on his lap. Switching on the electronic object, the boy hoped against hope that it would turn on and maybe have a video game on it? To his surprise, it turned on, though the only thing visible was the familiar symbol for WiFi. Although it did have a spinning satellite dish on its top and its clearly non-modern thickness suggested this thing was pretty dated.

Swift fingers rigorously typed at the random keys on the connect keyboard, waiting for a reaction of some sort. Finally, a message popped on screen: positioned betwixt the apex point of two celestial structures below planet. Of course, the kid didn't know how to read that well, so he basically just looked at it in confusion. But he didn't have time to wonder just what the heck that meant, seeing as another identical computer floated out of the heaps of garbage, its own message on that.

"... Ooooookayyyyy... didn't see that coming..." muttered the highly confused bee, floating to the new computer to see what it said... which was basic nonsense: .selkcuhc eht htiw, selkcunK s'ti, kconk kconK

"... Is this even english?" the perplexed Charmy asked aloud, not sure how to even interpret this new turn of events. Much to his dismay the other computer notified him of another message: It isn't not the opposite of over there except backwards.

"That's just incredibly unhelpful! Am I supposed to be looking for something or what?!" angrily questioned the fuming insect. When all of a sudden a third computer floated above its trash grave and presented its own message. The only thing was it was far away, so Charmy had to fly all the way to the top of this particularly large hill of trash to get to it. When he finally did, this was the message it gave him: "It's behind you!"

An excited gasp escaped from the adorable child as he turned faster than a top, expecting something spectacular to appear, rewarding him for enduring this confusing turn of events. Unfortunately, the only thing he saw was the other computers he left behind, all of the presenting the same new message: "No it's not, dummy! You'll never find it!"

"GrrrrrRAAAAAAH!" roared Charmy, reminiscent of Vector's battle cry, before he lunged at the floating computers, tumbling off of the giant hill of trash and repeatedly punching holes in the monitors of the annoying devices. The small, violent child hit the foot of the hill with such force, he made the surrounding trash fly several meters in the air.

"Who do you think you are, ya crusty, shells of a computer?!" hollered the frustrated toddler before flinging all the offending technology into a random direction, hoping to never see them again. Charmy turned his back toward the falling devices, wanting nothing more than to forget about them... but unfortunately a loud smashing sound and a subsequent cry of pain directed his attention back toward the direction of his flinging.

"WHAT IS YOUR DAMAGE, BRAT!? YOU TRYIN' TO KILL ME?!" accused the mobian in a dump jumpsuit. The guilty young boy gave a sheepish frown while averting his eyes to his left side, comically unsure of what he should even say. Other than an obvious...

"Sorry about that. Didn't know there was anyone over here, ha ha ha... haaaa..." an awkward tension grew between the nervously grinning bee and the older, workman. He trekked up to the small child, a large bump prominent on his head as he got closer to him. With a stiff, bitter point, the man looked down on Charmy, staring daggers into his helmet.

"This ain't no playground, boy. This stuff is dangerous, for you AND adults. Just stay out of my way and DON'T THROW THINGS THAT DON'T BELONG TO YOU, ya little shirt stain!" the intimidating adult threatened. The slightly uneasy bee started to nod his head in understanding, but couldn't help but notice the man's... accessories.

The garbage man was wearing... a lot of jewelry underneath his uniform. Several gold chains, some with lockets on the end, other's with jewels on them. And on his arm, 4 very intricate and dazzling watches, his other arm was decorated with gaudy bracelets, equally as intricate and expensive looking as the watches. His fingers were covered with rings, each and every one of his digits had at least 2 gem encrusted rings, all of which looked like wedding rings. His sharp ears had various types of earrings in them: studs, hoops, the dangly kind, every kind of earring Charmy had seen on celebrities. And now that he was looking at the guy, he had 3 pairs of glasses. 3! Who needs three pairs of glasses?! And they were made of platinum or something, meaning they were super expensive too!

Not to mention... one of the necklaces looked exactly like the old lady that hired them's necklace. Like, this one was identical to hers. Impossibly so.

Interesting that this garbage man was adorned in all this expensive stuff. Charmy thought that these dump guys were essentially poor like they were, considering they deal with garbage all day. But then how did this guy afford all of this stuff? And it was weird that he was over here, when all the other dump guys were having lunch right now, meaning he was the only one here besides Charmy himself and his detective bros. Plus, he looked... shifty... like a scummy criminal, whom Charmy had seen multiple times during his career of "detectiving". But he had to interrogate him real quick, to see if he was jumping to the right conclusion.

"Ya got it, squirt?!" the canine spoke loudly, bringing Charmy back into the moment.

"Yeah, I got it. I'm really sorry mister, won't cha forgive me?" he asked turning his cute charm on. The canine recoiled in surprise, guess he wasn't expecting this. Good. That would make this next part easy.

"Uh, sure kid... I'm sure ya didn't mean nothing by it" the suspicious canine responded, awkwardly smiling down at him.

"Say, ya look really shiny mister! Where'd ya find all that sparkly stuff?" craftily acted out the seasoned detective, making full use of his age and non-threatening image.

"Heh heh, thanks for noticing. Ya could say I got them while I was... on the move..." suggestively whispered the canine.

"They musta cost a lot a dollars, huh mister?" exaggerated the insect, holding his arms out like an ignorant child. The canine laughed proudly and leaned in to whisper to Charmy.

"Between you and me, kid... I practically got 'em... for a steal... ya know what I mean?" slyly mentioned the canine before winking at Charmy, who had all the evidence he needed to know the truth. The mysterious jewelry, the suspicious appearance of the canine while everyone else is at lunch, the fact that he just mentioned he got them for a steal. There was no mistake in Charmy's mind... that canine... he had to be...

"Boy do I! I get discount stuff all the time from stores!" Charmy innocently replied.

He had to be an money savvy man that saved up money from this job to afford all that stuff. And the lady's husband probably bought a generic necklace that has multiple copies in several locations. That's the only explanation for all of this, Charmy thought to himself. The canine walked away, but not before eyeing something shiny under his feet, picking it up, examining it with a monocle he had in his uniform pocket, and place the object in his pocket.

"Bye little man, remember to be careful around here!" he called back while waving.

"Okie dokie! Take care, shiny garbage man!" pleasantly responded the endearingly naive arthropod, waving energetically at his new friend. "What a nice man!" he thought out loud, genuinely happy to have met the mysterious canine. But before he could dwell on him another moment, his incredibly small, adolescent attention span focused on something else entirely, a rainbow colored something else.

"Ooooooh, what's that?!" Charmy eagerly questioned before flying over to the object in question. Once he got closer, he saw that it was a... rainbow-colored question mark. Surrounded by a ring of dots in different colors, this ring of chromatic dots orbited around the question mark at a slow speed.

This colorful contraption practically begged the hyperactive bug boy to reach out and touch it. So with explorative hands, Charmy did just that. Once he did, the question mark lit up on contact and a digital tone rang out at the same time. For a moment, there was silence, confusing and tense silence. In that moment, the happy-go-lucky sprout thought if he waited long enough something would happen, he had to be patient to let the fun stuff reveal itself.

"HI!" an annoying high pitched robotic voice shrieked, virtually making Charmy leap out of his fur. Whipping his head around frantically, the startled helmet-clad bug tried to find the source of that awful-

"I'M OMOCHAOOOOO!" announced a flying robot that suddenly revealed itself to a screaming Charmy.

"WAAAAAAAAH!" the boy hollered in fear. The flying robot was shaped like a Chao, its small body, with stubby limbs, and a large head with a red two-bladed propeller attached on top of its head and a grey wind-up key on its back. It had an orange head with ripple-like eyes... its eyes... that's what made him scared.

Those soulless... horrid... psychotic circles that it used for eyes... Looking into them for too long was a death sentence in and of itself.

"I'M HERE TO ASSIST YOOOOU!" spat out the disturbing small monstrosity in a grating voice. Ugh, Charmy's ears were bleeding at the sound of this atrocious distasteful sound. And that was saying something, considering he's used to all manner of various sounds that would be difficult for even Vector to hear. But this... this was on a whole new level of difficulty.

"JUMP MAKES YOU JUMP! PRESS THE JUMP BUTTON TO JUUUUUMP-!" Omochao attempted to continue its verbal assault on Charmy, but the bee managed to silence it mid sentence, with a finger energy blast.

"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE-!" maniacally chanted the frantic boy as he unleashed a volley of aura bullets, fired from his index fingers like sharpshooters. Each one of the red-orange balls of energy hit the terrible Omochao with incredible precision, effectively ripping apart the metallic beast of annoyance.

"-DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" he continued to attack the smoking pile of metal, not wishing to leave a trace of the vile Omochao. And after expending all of his endurance, there was nothing but smoke left. Which was nothing but a welcome sight for Charmy, who was still hopped up on fear and adrenaline. The tense toddler heaved heavy breaths, an enraged yet tired look on his face.

"That... was the most... horrifying thing... I ever saw... Oooh what's that?" Charmy said fully over the distasteful Omochao. When the smoking remains of the aggravating device dissipated, an unbelievable thing was waiting in the distance. It was a disk-shaped platform with a shinny green orb, surrounded by four floating yellow hedges, below it. The thing looked like an amusement park ride.

"Oh hohohoho that looks like so much fun!" jubilantly proclaimed the yellow striped child. Eager to find out how it worked, Charmy jumped on the top platform and immediately started probing and prodding the various surfaces of the ride. Doing so rotated the platform which lifted the ride in the air slightly.

"Wha? Oh. Ohhhhhhh I get how this works now! Huehuehuehue! This is gonna be awwwwwesome!" the chubby-cheeked boy cheered in realization. Standing proudly on the platform, the little energetic child ran in place, the device rising in the air slowly. But as Charmy speed up his running pace, the ride raised higher in the air, eventually flying forward as well.

"Heeheeheehee!" amusedly chortled the young arthropod as he rode through the sky, mildly losing control at different intervals. Man, who would ever throw this thing away?! It was so cool! Charmy wondered if Vector and Espio would let him keep it. Oh, he could show them how awesome it is and they would definitely let him take it home with them! Doing the best he could to steer the clunky thing, Charmy clumsily maneuvered the spinning top toward his detective bros.

Unfortunately, the little control he had escaped him only a couple of feet from the older reptiles. With a loud bang, the spinning top crashed inches from Vector's face, inciting a startled high pitched yelp from the green adult. As soon as the small bee popped his from the wreckage, the fearful croc switched his mood to anger.

"Charmy, quit goofing off! We're gonna be here all day if you can't be serious and search!" chastised Vector, grabbing the tiny bee by his head.

"Now we have to readjust the piles we've been through and the pile's we haven't been through! Child you are making this a lot more tedious than it already is!" the magenta Espio sternly fussed, stiffly pointing at several vaguely distinguishable piles.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! Jeez, it's just this was so BOOOOORING I had to do something or my head was gonna explode!" the childish Charmy defended, wriggling out of his stronger companion's grasp.

"Oh, I'll make your head explode, alright! C'mere you little-!" the furious enormous reptile threatened before lunging after the badgering immature insect, who was to fast for the initial lunge. But that just made the emerald powerhouse even more furious. And the chase began.

"Waaaaaah!" howled vulnerable bug, trying desperately to stay out of Vector's wide reach. In the background, the disciplined shinobi tried to resume his assignment. After picking up several pieces of trash, only to look around and see no sign of anything resembling a diamond necklace. With a huff, Espio stood to his feet and closed his eyes in irritation, his teammates still roughhousing behind him.

"What's the point in getting angry with him? This was a futile effort, we're not going to find that diamond necklace here, maybe we should've gone to the junkyard instead..." he reasoned, placing a worrisome hand on his heliotrope shade head. Vector immediately halted his attack on Charmy when he heard Espio's tired comment.

"It's got to be here somewhere, let's just keep looking!" the bulky aquatic reptile shouted, determination in his eyes as he frantically shoveled enormous handfuls of garbage out of the massive hills of trash. Vector just didn't want to give up, he knew the lady's necklace had to be here somewhere, it just had to be! He gave his word that he would find it and a man never let's his word fail! But this was a daunting task... ugh, what he wouldn't give for some kind of clue or someth-

"Hey why don't we just ask the garbage guys for help? They seem to like diamond necklaces and expensive stuff, I think they'd like to help the lady find hers, wouldn't they?" suggested the naive bee youth. Stopping his rushed search job, the colossal scalene man looked quizzically at the boy.

"What're you talkin' about, brat?" the green leader questioned in a smooth baritone voice.

"I just made friends with a garbage guy! He had a diamond necklace and a whole bunch of other fancy jewelry, and I was just thinking maybe he can help us find it. He's got an eye for shiny junk after all!" cheerfully mentioned Charmy, innocently remembering the nice man he met earlier. He didn't notice Vector and Espio exchanging a worried look for a moment, before Espio spoke up about this new development.

"Charmy... where is this man?" the ninja tensely asked his younger companion. The yellow-striped arthropod tilted his head to the side as he gained altitude, turning to the place where he first met the suspicious dump worker. Taking a moment to briefly skim the area, he saw the shining man a couple of feet away from where Vector was standing.

"Ummmm, over there, by that... really cool looking race-car bed!" informed Charmy, pointing in the canine's direction and looking between his legs to make eye contact with his earthbound partners. The large green crocodile rounded a corner and there he was: Charmy's new buddy.

"That guy?" he called up to Charmy, to confirm his target.

"Uh huh. It's funny, his diamond necklace looked just like the picture the lady showed us of her diamond necklace. In fact he said, he got it for a steal" the naive floating boy recalled, ignorant to the fact that he just identified where the old lady's necklace has been the whole time.

"..." Espio and Vector exchanged another look, this time with their mouths agape in shock, their eyes wide with revelation.

"Crazy coincidence, huh?" laughed Charmy, returning to float at Vector's eyelevel. The two experienced reptiles turned their attention to the canine currently glittering with way too much accessories to be innocently possible. They had found a quite obvious thief who had the necklace the whole time.

"... Son of a biscuit..." the emerald robust detective breathed incredulously.

" _Uso..._ " Espio said to himself, disbelief heavy in his tone. Not at the man being a thief, but at the man being so outlandish with it.

"Nice work, kid" Vector quickly complemented the unwittingly brilliant child, rubbing the top of his head with a large hand as he moved to approach the canine. Espio walked briskly behind him, nodding approvingly at the floating bee, who was still confused as to what they were complementing him for, but decided to ignore it so he could see if the race-car bed could actually be driven!

"Hey wiseguy!" the intimidating green beast shouted rudely, causing the canine to turn around. As soon as he looked up at Vector's massive form, he wished he hadn't. With impossibly powerful strength, the emerald crocodile punched the canine in the face/upper body, considering how big Vector's fist was. The canine flew through the air, confident that all of his bones were broken.

"That's for stealing from old ladies, ya bum!" angrily shouted Vector, while Espio slyly met the man halfway in the air and swiped all of his accessories off in one skillful motion. It only took a second to accurately identify the necklace with the photo the old widow gave to them for reference. It took one second more to examine the rest of the jewelry.

"Vector, this man seems to have collected quite a lot of valuables... with other people's names inscribed on them" the colorful chameleon dryly accused.

"I think we just caught a thief! Hey, ya think if he's stolen all this stuff he's got a-" Vector excitedly spoke before Espio continued his thought.

"Bounty? Or at least a warrant for his arrest? My thoughts-" and then Vector chimed back in for the final word.

"Exactly! Ho hooooo, we're getting something out of this, after all!" cheered the kind emerald giant, picking up the unconscious thief.

"Somehow..." he fit reptilian man sarcastically mentioned. If he wasn't so refined, he would have added an eye-roll with it. The two made their way toward the dump's entrance which would be their exit, as Vector leaned down to look at Espio's stoic face.

"Come on, Espio, say it..." teased the larger male. The steel-nerved ninja simply looked at him lazily, took in his smug grin, and uninterestedly turned to his face forward.

"... no" he flatly answered.

"Admit it. I was right for taking this freebee job, you were wrong for giving me crap about it. Admit it, ninja boy" the boisterous reptilian pointed out, before requesting an admission of defeat from the toned passive-aggressive lizard.

"No" Espio responded in the same exact tone of voice as his previous refusal.

"Come on..." provoked the larger Vector.

"No"

 _"Come on~"_

"No"

"You're gonna admit it at some point, might as well get it out now"

"How many times must I say no, before you understand I want you to be silent?" Espio said finally in a different, cold inflection.

"Welp, looks like we ARE getting out of here in 5 minutes!" the familiar high-pitched joyful voice rang out before Charmy flew behind and lightly glomped his matured exasperated comrade.

"Charmy, we were here for about 3 hours" dryly informed Espio, allowing the contact Charmy initiated for a couple moments longer than he would anyone else.

"Okay so I was off by two, big whup, let's go home and never come here again!" countered the loving child, only to be gently shrugged off of Espio. But the boy did manage to incite a soft, restrained laugh from the ninja.

"You don't know what an hour is either, do you?" he asked smirking, knowing the answer already. With an innocent grin plastered on his face, Charmy shook his head ignorantly.

"NOPE!" was his glad, honest response.

"Who cares?! We might actually get paid today! Just focus on that, boys!" Vector reminded happily, nudging the less stoic than usual shinobi at his side, his youngest member shifted to his other shoulder.

"Yay, money!" mimicked the cute little bee, throwing his arms and legs out for emphasis on his excitement.

"Hmph, finally. Now we can start saving up for a car"

 **"DON'T YOU START THAT UP AGAIN, ESPIO!"**

* * *

 _(Author's note: If it wasn't clear, the list of random items that Charmy finds in the dump are: dash pad from Sonic Adventure, Lampposts from Sonic 1, casino barrel from Sonic 3, catapult from Sonic 2, target switch from Heroes, rails from all games following Sonic Adventure 2, hint box from Sonic Adventure 2, hint ring from Sonic Heroes, Spinning Top from Sonic Generations, and Omochao from the lesser known 10th ring of Hell: the Annoyance ring. screwOmochaoIhavenoregrets_

 _Also, one of the messages from the hint box is a phrase backwards. See if you can figure out what it says ;D)_


	8. Charmy goes to the doctor

**_Yo! Been a while huh? Thanks for hanging in there, here's a suggestion from SaltwaterJanuary. Check her out maybe?_**

 ** _FYI, still taking story suggestions. I've got serious ones planned but I need more silly ones to place in between the serious ones. Help a brother out. XDDD_**

 ** _I think every 5 chapters I'll post a serious one, about either Espio or Vector's backstory for these oneshots. Hope that's cool with everybody. :)_**

* * *

"But I'm not siiiiiick!" Charmy whined, reiterating the same phrase since this morning, when Espio reminded Vector that Charmy's never had a check-up. Vector agreed to the idea simply because he had to know if Charmy had diabetes from all the sweets he let him eat. _God, he really hoped he didn't have diabetes._

"We heard ya the last 98 times, brat! It ain't about bein' sick, it's about takin' care a business!" Vector said, placing his hand over Charmy's head and gently pushing him back to his seat in the waiting room.

"Besides, it won't take that long, Charmy. Just sit down and be quiet until they call your name" Espio said, peering over his fascinating magazine of National Geographic. This issue was all about the unnatural effect that climate had on design patterns in the mountains of Press Garden. _Yeah, he would read something boring like that_ , Charmy thought to himself.

"But guys, I don't think you understand... I'M. NOT. SICK!" the honeybee shouted impatiently. Vector and Espio groaned in annoyance, slumping down in their chairs, while Charmy pouted in between them.

"I will wring your little neck if you say that one more time, little man!" whispered Vector, venom in his tone. His large hands grinding a children's toy into dust in front of the young insect.

"What's wrong with you anyway, Charmy? I thought you weren't afraid of anything" Espio commented, as he turned a page. The little boy groaned between the two adults, who just weren't getting it.

"I ain't scared of nothin'! Doesn't mean I like having bad guys poke me with needles and experimenting on me!" Vector and Espio looked at each other, the same question plastered on their scrunched faces.

"Come again?" Espio asked, placing the magazine on his lap and closing it on his index finger to keep his place. Vector paused his music for a moment, looking down at his youngest teammate, sitting with his arms crossed and looking as if he was about to light up like a match. Instead, the honeybee threw his hands in the air, almost hitting Vector's large snout.

"What are ya, stupid?! Doctors are evil! Villains! Bad guys!" informed the yellow-striped child. Again, Espio and Vector looked to each other for an answer that they just didn't have. Espio placed a patient hand on the energetic child's arm and guided it down.

"Charmy... doctors are not evil-" the arm whipped back up defiantly.

"Oh yes they are, do ya think it's a coincidence that mean old Robotnik is a doctor!? Why else would they poke people with needles and- and- hit them with hammers- and shove sticks down their throats, huh!? HUUUUUUHHH!?" The small boy looked between the two older men, unrelenting suspicion on his face.

"None of that is evil, kid" the emerald crocodile explained, using one large finger to push the tiny hand out of his snout.

"And those tests are not as brutal as you described" the shinobi chameleon added, attention already back on his magazine. The small arthropod flung himself off his chair and furiously pointed at his two clueless companions.

"Maybe to you grown ups! But to us kids, it's torture! Who wants to wait in a boring old room with the lamest toys ever, just to get tortured by some freaky weirdo, and then to top it all off, PAY THEM FOR THE TORTURE?! Go on, raise your hands! Who wants that?" Charmy turned swiftly to look around the room at all the witnesses he had supporting his cause. Not a soul raised their hands.

"Hmm, interesting, NOBODY RAISED THEIR HANDS!" the young bee turned to his colleagues in righteous indignation.

"Charmy, no one raised their hands because they're ignoring you" Espio commented, not bothering to look up from his magazine, which had managed to catch Vector's eye as well when a sultry advertisement revealed itself on the page between Espio's article.

"WELL I DON'T SEE ANY HANDS, SO I'M STILL RIGHT! I DEMAND FREEDOM!" Charmy declared, pounding his little chest to emphasize his point.

"No, now pipe down" the emerald crocodile said quickly, leaning in closer to Espio to get a better look at the beautiful perfume model. The chameleon curled the page to continue reading, however a thick finger halted the movement, catching his attention.

"FREEDOOOOOM!" Charmy roared at the ceiling. A large scaly tail flung around and struck the boy's rear end, causing the air to crackle as if it were a whip.

"Ow, hey!" cried the high-pitched child, as he rubbed his stinging bottom.

"I warned ya, now shut yer yap, and wait yer turn" Vector ordered, pointing a sharp gaze at Charmy. Which finally gave Espio the chance to flip the page, much to Vector's chagrin when his eyes tried to return to the scantily clad beauty, but found nothing but 10 point arial font. With a forlorn sigh, the childish insect slumped to the ground, as if he had suddenly lost the ability to fly or stand up. Man this was the worst, the doctor's office was like the fifth most evil place to be, superseded by the dentist's office, the car rental place, a volcano, and an evil space station. The young toddler simply groaned on the floor, his voice muffled by the tacky carpet that his face was being slightly suffocated by.

"Charmy Bee?" a sudden, unfamiliar voice called, catching the entire Chaotix's attention. Charmy picked himself up and looked between his two reptilian companions to see a woman in a nurse's uniform standing in a doorway, a clipboard in her delicate hands.

"The doctor will see you now, honey" she said in a cheerful tone. That only made Charmy angrier. Ugh, there's nothing worse than a happy person telling you you're doomed, where's the justice in that? The Chaotix stood to their feet and walked over to the woman, Charmy moving a bit faster than the other two.

"Don't you 'honey' me, lady. I know what you're planning and it's got nothing to do with honey, so cut the crap" Charmy bitterly spat at her as he passed. Espio and Vector gasped at the same time, shocked and ready to correct their youngest member.

" _Ko_!"

"Runt!"

"Behave!" They said simultaneously, authoritative rage in their eyes.

"What? I'm a honeybee, she's a moron for bringing honey into this" Charmy replied over his shoulder, motioning to said moron with his hands. The young adult nurse looked quizzically between the three visitors, not sure what she did wrong. But after a second, a quick blur of magenta flew past her and was on top of the rude little child.

"OW, HEY!" Charmy shouted, turning to face an angry Espio, who was now accompanied by a particularly sinister Vector. The yellow-striped insect could only squeak in fear of what was to come. There was a quick flurry of attacks all landing on their small target, who yelped at every impact.

"Sowwie, nice lady" the comically injured bee said through bloated lips and lumps on his head.

"Now go with this nurse and act like ya got some manners, ya hear me?!" shouted Vector as he bent down to Charmy's eye level, making sure the kid knew how serious he was.

"Yessir..." was his meek response. With a quick flutter of his translucent wings, the downtrodden child was in the air and moving across the hallway. The nurse began to go after him, but stopped herself to look at the embarrassed guardians of the rude boy.

"Oh you're the parents so you can accompany your child in the-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, we are not the parents. We're his boss and his superior. Not parents" Espio said, shooting his hands up in a rebuffing manner. Green wrinkles appeared on the brow of the confused crocodile at his side, as Vector looked down at the defensive mulberry chameleon.

"Well, hold on. We kind of are his-" he started before-

"NO. WE. AREN'T" Espio gritted through his teeth, unusually tense, rather than his normal stoic and temperate attitude. The innocent nurse looked between the two glaring reptiles before Vector felt her gaze on them.

"... Excuse us a second" he awkwardly laughed as he waved her off politely. She shrugged and went down the hallway while Vector grabbed Espio's arm and escorted him to the bathroom.

Charmy had already made it to an empty hospital room before the nurse caught up with him. She told him this wasn't his room, but Charmy was not about to get up and go to another empty room. He had told her, in so many words, the doctor can come and get him where he was, like a man. So the ditzy nurse went to tell the doctor the change in location, leaving Charmy to pout in the small room alone.

The operating table was cold as ice, so Charmy opted to stand. It was better that way, for when the doctor entered the room, the hyperactive bee could defend himself more easily from attacks. Like if he came at him with one of the many torture devices in the pastel painted room, he would see it coming and intercept.

Try to put one of those weird, arm squeezing things on him? He'd kick the guy in the head before he got the chance! Take out the refrigerator cold, chest-listening thing? He'd get a nice, stiff headbutt! And if he dared to point a needle at him, Charmy would just introduce him to his very own needle! Nothing could get him, he's Charmy Bee, dang it! He beat scary robots, giant monsters and Big the Cat, there was nothing he couldn't handle! Well, nothing besides waiting for the dumb doctor to show up; it had been like a thousand minutes since the nurse left to get him, where was that jerk?!

The rambunctious insect floated off the operation table and flew around the sanitized room in a huff. There was absolutely nothing to do, the boredom slowly weighed him down. In a desperate attempt to free himself, Charmy let his curiosity take hold and explored what little there was to explore in the generic tiled room. There were a few cabinets, he wondered what were in those. Tiny hands reached for the handles of a cabinet and pulled, but the doors didn't open. Hmph, locked. Perhaps the hospital didn't want just anyone opening these cabinets.

What are they hiding?! Impatience and suspicion let Charmy access his surprising well of strength and rip the doors off their hinges, revealing the secrets they guarded. Secrets shaped like a jar of cotton balls, a wide array of Q-tips, and hand sanitizer. Well that was a bust... what about the other cabinets though? A few seconds and a couple of cabinet doors later and the answer was clear: nothing was hidden in the cabinets. But there were plenty of other places the evil doctors could be storing secrets and weapons and evil junk!

Like on the computer connected to the wall. There had to be something on there! The helmet clad bee practically tackled the beige rolling stool and started clicking away. Only problem was the computer wanted a password. Great, how was he gonna get past this? Charmy paused for a moment, trying to picture himself as an evil doctor who wanted to blow up the ocean or something. What would Dr. Evil Bee have as his password? An idea came to him and his fingers obeyed it.

 _\- evilforthelolz. Enter._

 _\- password doesn't match username._

"Username? How am I supposed to know that?" he asked a silent screen. Ugh, waste of time, he could just make the guy enter his password after he beat him up. What else needed investigating? How about those torture tools on the wall? Charmy flew over to the resting place of several suspicious instruments. Most of which he was already familiar with: weird, arm squeezing thing, refrigerator cold, chest-listening thing, thermometer (an evil thermometer), scissors (they weren't even being secretive about that one), and... huh. He'd never seen that one before. Carefully, his white gloved fingers pulled out a strange beak shaped instrument. It had a regular handle, it was just the weird cone on the end that threw him.

"What the heck is this for?" Charmy asked under his breath, peering at it from all sides. It looked dangerous but he wasn't sure how it was dangerous. Regardless, if he had it, the doctor couldn't use it on him, and that's all Charmy needed. Armed with the deadly weapon, the tense arthropod looked at the doorway, hearing the steps of an adult coming closer to the room. Orange sneakers pushed him in the air and back on top of the chilling table. He'd be ready for him, anything he had up his evil sleeve, Charmy was prepared to combat it.

"Hey there Charmsily, how ya feeling little lady?" an obnoxious voice called, just before its owner entered the room. A lanky, white feathered duck with a suave, blond hairdo walked in the room, a clipboard 2 inches from touching his beak and a white lab coat trailing behind him a bit. He flicked his head up and finally looked at his patient.

"Er, little fella?" he corrected. Charmy stared at him, malice in his eyes.

"Cut the act, Doc, I'm not here to exchange pageantries"

"You mean 'pleasantries',"

"Don't you sass me, hack! If you whip out a needle, be prepared to battle, because I got one too! _It's on my butt_!" Charmy shouted, spinning around to throw his stinger in the duck doctor's face.

"Whoa whoa, hang on just a minute, little fella. What's all this about?" he asked backing away a bit.

"Oh, don't play games with me, blondie! I know you're a evil villain! I fight a evil doctor all the time, so I got expedients dealing with your kind!"

"You mean 'experience',"

"WHAT'D I SAY ABOUT SASSING ME, WHITE COAT?!" the young boy turned around again, the unknown weapon pointing squarely between the doctor's eyes.

"Hey, hold up. I'm not evil" the blond duck raised his hands defensively.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

"What a funny phrase that is, the person's pants are never on fire" the doctor lowered his hands to rest under his chin in contemplation.

" _Gimme a sec and I'll fix that_ " the deadly toddler threatened with a sinister voice, his face a statue of malice, contrasting his frantic fiddling with the suspicious instrument.

"Cherry, I'm not here to harm you, I promise" the duck sat down on the stool, while Charmy continued to try and work the dang thing. However, the doctor's words finally broke through his helmet guarded head, stopping his hands' progress and causing the perturbed child to look up at his enemy.

"Did you just call me 'Cherry'?"

"All I'm gonna do is check you for any problems, but from this energetic display, I can see you're fit as a fiddle"

"Did you just call me a fiddle?"

"And before you know it, you'll be picking out toys, a candy, and boom! You'll be on your way back home with your parents!"

"Vector and Espio aren't my- did you say toys and candy?" Charmy immediately dropped the ear analyzer he'd been trying to work at the sound of toys and candy.

"Yes I did, Chairly! And all you have to do, is let me take a look at ya for a few minutes! I promise, no evil scheme, no bad guy plans, just a quick checkup and you won't have to see me for another 6 months to a year" the young adult reassured, getting a tongue depressor out of one of the many forcibly opened cabinets.

"And I get toys and candy after? Any toys and candy I want?"

"That's right, Chadly"

"Then let's get this show on the road, Doc!" Charmy exclaimed, tossing the ear checking instrument carelessly and dropping back down to the operation table.

"Good, now open wide and say aaaah" the adult duck instructed, tongue depressor ready to go. Without anymore fuss, the hyperactive bee complied.

"Aaaaaaaaah..."

"Alright, so... what's your problem?" Vector asked, massive arms crossed as he leaned against the bathroom wall. His smaller companion had decided to wash his hands while he was in the bathroom, _one could never be too careful in a hospital_ , he said.

"I don't have a problem" he responded, looking at the interrogating reptile in the sink mirrors.

"Why did you freakout so much when the nurse called us his parents?"

"Because we're not. He's not my son" the magenta chameleon said, finished with the sink and moving to the hand dryer. Vector's large hand reached under his gold chain, rubbing tense muscles as he tried to continue the conversation while the loud blowing of the hand dryer filled the small room.

"... He _is_ kinda our son"

"No, he's kind of _your_ son. He's not my kid"

"Espio, you taught him how to read and write, you make all of his meals and you're careful to give him all the food groups, you tuck him in at night, and you even call him _ko_ "

"That means boy, Vector. Nice tr-"

"You put _boku_ _no_ in front of it half the time" the loud dryer had died off by the time Vector began that sentence. The truth of his words bounced off the walls and met up with the stubborn young man more than once. He couldn't speak for a short while, Vector smiling a little at the effect this talk was having on Espio.

"... That... doesn't mean-"

"Hey, if you don't want to admit it, fine don't. But he's under our care. And you're gonna have to get used to being seen as his parent and the responsibility that comes with that" the wise crocodile said, pushing himself off the pastel wallpaper and took a few steps toward the door. The poised and dispassionate colleague followed him toward the door, slipping his gloves on before Vector opened the door for him.

"I'll let you be seen as his parent, I'll just be the man standing to the side..." he said in a tone that hopefully ended any further discussion that could arise later as he stepped back into the waiting area. The music loving croc simply smirked and rolled his eyes at his ninja partner, walking out of the restroom to catch up with the chameleon.

"Alright, I'll be right back, Chalnik" the duck doctor said as he stepped out of the room with his clipboard.

"That one wasn't even close..." the boy said to himself tending to his bruised arm from the shot the nice doctor had just given the boy. Well, he had made it through the horrid ordeal of the checkup and now it was time for his reward. Rambunctious wings carried little Charmy out of the room and into the bright hallway. He scurried along, quickly searching through door windows for any sign of toys and candy.

After the first couple of doors, he figured he was looking in the wrong place. Perhaps the nurse from before had the candy and toys with her. But before Charmy went to track her down, he saw the blond duck open a door and slip inside, a mysterious look on his face. That was weird, why was he looking so strange? Curiosity had already pulled Charmy to the door the duck stepped into, his small head poking into the corner of the thin window above the door's handle.

The room was a small scale laboratory, housing various beakers and tubes of blood and lots of other scientific paraphernalia. Okay, nothing weird about that, it was a hospital. The doctor had Charmy's blood vial in his hand and made preparations to examine it before reaching into his lab coat pocket and pulling out a tape recorder. Charmy placed the side of his head on the door to hear what exactly the white feathered man had to say about his blood.

"Dr. Charles log date October 19th: Things are progressing smoothly, no one has discovered my secret plan as of yet. And what a brilliant plan it is!" he said, hunched over in a manner that was very different from the way he acted while in Charmy's company.

"Secret plan?" the bee mouthed in shock, pressing his head deeper on the surface of the door.

"Who knew it would be this easy? Using the naivety of parents, I add these various collected diseases to the blood samples of the children, to make them think their children are sicker than they are! With that paranoia confirmed, they'll pay whatever price for children's aspirin disguised as special prescriptions, leaving me richer than ever!" the doctor pulled open one of the cabinets in the room and picked up a vial labeled: West Niles Virus. His feathered hand slyly pried open Charmy's blood sample and skillfully poured a few drops of the West Niles Virus in the glass tube, shaking it a bit for good measure.

"You no good, dirty, rotten..." angrily whispered the yellow striped child, his hands curled into fists.

"Soon I, the great pediatrician, Charles will own my very own helicopter! Mwahahahaha!" Charles laughed stereotypically into the recording device and that was the last straw for Charmy. With surprising force, Charmy kicked the door open, making Dr. Charles flinch wildly and yelp like a woman.

"I KNEW IT!" Charmy shouted pointing at the despicable duck.

"What?! Carlos!?"

"YOU _ARE_ EVIL! I WAS RIGHT!" Charles quickly got a hold of himself and glared at the innocent insect.

"Foolish boy, no one will believe you over me! Charles! The greatest pediatrician in the world!"

"Oh you're right, guess I'll need some evidence then" agreed the young bee. In an instant he was in the blond duck's face and plucked the tape recorder he had just confessed to out of the man's hand. Charles yelped and jumped backwards at the speed of Charmy's assault and hit his head on the cabinets behind him.

"Evidence like your tape recorder, you nugget brain!" the clever boy teased before blowing raspberries at the evil duck, struggling to get to his feet again.

"You dare call me, the great Charles, a nugget brain?! GUARD ROBOS!" In response to his beckoning, several robots converged on the laboratory's entrance filling the opposite side of the room, awaiting orders.

"Get him!" the duck pointed at the tiny child, the robots eyes flashing red, signifying their acceptance of the command. With quick hands, the tape recorder was tucked safely under Charmy's signature helmet, before those hands returned to start this battle.

"Heh, just try!" he smirked before they charged at him systematically. But the boy was already gone, floating behind an unsuspecting robo. He pierced its head with his durable stinger, sparks flying everywhere when he pulled out of the scraps. Charmy swung the large guard into the other robots before bolting to the hallway. The robo heap untangled themselves and followed in rigid pursuit.

Charmy circled back and slammed his feet on top of a robot's head and shot up before the others could properly take aim. Hidden in the ceiling, the bee flew around the surplus of energy bullets fired at him from below. The flashing lights of the bullets lit up the dark ceiling like a dance floor as the insect weaved through the assault.

As soon as their attack lulled, he was back in the hallway, and twirling into a virtual cannonball. He burst into the torso of a robot and forced it to collide into 2 other machines behind it. Suddenly, a large fist crashed from his blind spot, Charmy's uncoiled body accepting the impact. He lets out a quite grunt as he flies backward, reeling from the blow. But he used the momentum to curl into a ball once more and crash into an unprepared robot.

From that impact, Charmy bounded toward another robot and delivered a flying kick to the enemy; using that Guard Robo as a springboard to fly towards the last robot standing, its fist locked on the boy. But Charmy's wings fluttered in record time and the robotic fist missed completely, the young bee taking full advantage of the opening. Tiny fist curled tightly and rammed into the metallic body with such force that the boy's whole arm was buried in the machine's circuitry.

The limb finally broke free of the robot's body, but the bee was taken by surprise. The robots had refused to stay down, converging on his location. Charmy escaped the wrath of the closest one, but moved to another's territory. A flashing blade connected with the boy and split outward, transferring an agonizing burst of electricity coursing through him.

The child howled in pain, as he was blown backward. He spun and spiraled out of control until his figure collided with a staunch wall, creating a crevice in the structure. Charmy groaned as he lay planted firmly in the wall. Vigorous head shaking snapped his attention back to the moment at hand.

"Oh so we're playing with electricity now, huh?" he smirked, before flexing himself out of the damaged wall. He inhaled sharply, holding onto the breath as the robots closed in on him, their electrical blades drawn and calling for his blood. But he disappeared before their optics, leaving only the wall to destroy. As they scanned the room for him, there was a bright flash of light accompanied by the crackling sound of electricity.

"Thunder..." a small young voice called out, directing the robots to look down. There Charmy was, with a ball of sparkling electricity on his fingertips. He hunched his knees low, preparing himself for launch. They had no time to react.

"SHOOT!" his fingers pointed directly at the group of mechanical men propelling the electric ball to bolt forth. It carved through the entire group of robots in a display of sparks and smoke while the unruly metallic beings flailed and contorted. The bee darted around the pile of smoldering robots, using the trailing wind to encircle his enemies. The orbit gained more speed the longer he rushed around them, an illusion of several Charmy's all flying in harmony materialized. Within seconds the robots were enclosed in a tight, localized whirlwind, pressing their bodies into one compact heap of scrap metal.

Satisfied with the damage, Charmy broke off from his orbit and clapped the debris from his gloves, floating away from the still rushing whirlwind who's speed had not died down despite his absence. Charmy headed for the exit before a hand clasped onto his ankle.

"No! You can't! My career will be ruined!" the shady doctor begged, hoping to reason with the powerful little tyke. But a kick to the bill was his reply.

"Your fault for being a doctor, chump!" he called over his shoulder as he rushed through the hallways making it back to the waiting room in seconds. His crash through the door alerted Espio and Vector to his presence. They stood to their feet as Charmy stopped just short of them.

"All done, little one?" Espio asked, tossing the magazine down.

"Yeah and I got something to tell ya" Charmy said, quickly pulling the tape recorder from under his helmet.

"Oh no, you've got diabetes! I knew this day would come" Vector gasped, berating himself mentally for allowing Charmy to eat so many sweets on a daily basis.

"What? No, what's diabe- never mind! Just listen!" Charmy pointed the tape recorder between the two reptiles heads and played the recent track. Dr. Charles' entire plan was played back in high definition and as it went on, Espio and Vector's expressions darkened. They looked at each other, Espio clearly unhappy at the news and Vector trying to piece together what they needed to do next. Charmy looked up at them smugly, preparing his mouth to say the all too elusive phrase: I told you so. But before he can, Dr. Charles frantically runs into the waiting room and points at the bee.

"Hey, stop that kid! He destroyed our Guard Robos and attacked me for no reason! He's a lunatic!" he cried, hoping he could get in front of this before the kid told anyone.

" _OI, KISAMA_!" was his reply from Espio. The ninja materialized in front of the unfortunate duck in the blink of an eye and before the corrupted young man could properly react, his face was already bruised and contorted beyond repair. A swift elbow strike to his abdomen sent the defeated doctor flying down the hallway and into the wall 20 feet away.

"Don't mess with our kid, _kusoatama_ " the furious chameleon spat, the duck's blood staining his gloves.

"Woo! Go Espio!" Charmy cheered behind him, sincerely impressed by Espio's skill and ruthlessness. The magenta shinobi walked back to his comrades, the rage still bubbling in his chest like stew over a fire. Charmy rushed to his arms, excited giggles escaping from his chubby cheeks. But Espio only let the hug last a moment before swiftly pulling Charmy back to examine whatever damage the doctor had done to the boy.

"Uh you can send the bill to the G.U.N. Commander, he'll take care of that" Vector whispered to a nurse before walking over to the doting, reserved lizard and his floating, squirming insect. After Espio was satisfied that no serious harm had been done, he let Charmy go and headed for the exit at the other end of the room, Vector following right behind him.

"Ooooh, wait, I didn't get my candy and toys!" the small bee remembered, flying across the nurse's counter to see if his earlier deduction was correct. Upon his call, the two older reptiles stopped and politely waited for their youngest member to catch up with them. Vector looked down at Espio, taking in his scowl before placing a hand on his arm, covering most of it with his palm. Sharp golden eyes flicked up at him, before the rest of the chameleon's head followed, a fire still burning in him. But Vector patiently waited for the ninja to relax a bit and speak his mind.

"Can't believe that piece of filth was bothering Charmy, does he have any idea who we are?!" Espio shouted, his voice uncharacteristically hot and violent.

"His parents?" Vector replied casually.

"Exactly, we're his-! No," Espio caught himself, but it was too late. The emerald croc cracked a smug grin at his response. He had tricked the fussing ninja.

"No, I didn't mean that- you- Vector-" Espio tried but Vector's grin only widened at his protest. The magenta shade man swatted the massive hand from his arm and a blush rose to his cheeks.

"Stop smiling!"

"You said he's our kid"

"Well-Who cares?! _GAKI,_ WE'RE LEAVING!" commanded the blushing chameleon, Charmy poking his head over the counter in response, multiple lollipops in his mouth.

"Right behind ya, Espio!" he responded, flying with the entire plastic basket of candy and toys.

"That's too much candy, do you want to be up all night?!" Espio shouted once Charmy was at his side.

"Jeez, take a chill pill, _mom_ " Charmy joked. Instantly, a kunai knife streaked centimeters from Charmy's nose. The bee yelped in a high pitched voice and looked at Espio, who was not happy. A dark shadow was cast over his face, his golden eyes burning with intense fury as his hands morphed into several discernible hand signs and summoned an array of dangerous eastern weaponry. Before Charmy could plead his case, the ninja warrior was already coming for him. The frightened child flew with all of his might to evade Espio's wild slashes and flying knives, trying to explain the joke.

He would have asked Vector for help but the bulky man was rolling on the floor, howling at the red faced shinobi and the frantic child who could only be described as his family.

* * *

 _ **Dr. Charles is named after the NPC from Sonic Unleashed's Empire City Hub world. Look him up, he's totally useless just like all the other humans in that game**_


	9. Charmy and the Halloween Party

**_Whaaaat? A Halloween themed story in November? What are the odds?! XDDDDD this is what happens when I try to do a holiday themed fic, I'm late and people get awkward about how late it is. Well ya know what?! I don't care, Halloween is whenever I say it is! B/ (sorry, enjoy you guys XDDD)_**

* * *

Charmy floated along, on his way to Amy's Halloween party, in a costume too gaudy and colorful to clearly distinguish for adults, but immediately recognized by children as Super Duper Scooper, the Ice Cream Hero. Charmy was too excited to see all of his friends at Amy's place, he just knew they would flip over his costume. Plus, you know, _candy_.

He was almost there, turning a corner swiftly ready to meet up with Vector Espio and everyone else... but something stopped him. Someone, actually.

Standing just a few yards from Amy's apartment, Charmy's eyes immediately latched onto the silhouette of a man, a human, staring at the place where all of his friends were currently. Charmy found himself frozen, studying the person creeping in the shadows of his friend's house, before he realizes there's only one human in the world and now that Charmy studied the figure, he could make out more details of the shadowy person: portly physique, bushy mustache, red jumpsuit. The insect resumed movement and rushed to the familiar man.

"Dr. Robotnik? Did you even try with your costume?" he asked, disappointment in his tone. The mustachioed man turned to Charmy, calmly and connected despite the child's sudden appearance in his personal space.

"... costume?" he asked in a voice slightly different than his usual tone, not that Charmy noticed. He was too busy being distracted by the awful Halloween costume the mad doctor was outfitted in: a black jacket with yellow accents over his red jumpsuit, tucked into yellow and black striped boots. And other than a white dye job on his mustache, that was it. Charmy, having gone a couple of extra miles to get his costume just right over the course of a few days, was understandably disappointed with Robotnik's lack of effort.

"Yeah, this outfit. It's not very good. You have to try harder for your Halloween costumes!" the young bee instructed.

" _Halloween_?" the evil scientist asked, already tired of the conversation.

"Ummmm yeah, Halloween: dress up, go trick-or-treating, party with friends. What's with you? I thought you were supposed to be a smartypants," Charmy noted, looking him up and down. The egg shaped human didn't respond immediately, rather he just glared at Charmy. An emotionless, cold glare.

"... you must be having the time of your life..." he finally said, a crack of a grin pulling on his cheek.

"Huh?"

"This... _Halloween_... this world... your youth... how monumental and yet so trivial it all is..."

Charmy paused, tried to understand what the bald scientist was talking about all of a sudden, and couldn't come up with a reason. "What are you talking about, egghead? Are you acting weird because you're mega old?"

Robotnik flicked his eyes back to the child at his remark, the disdain on his face slowly melted into menacing understanding. "... how old are you, boy?" he asked, voice raspy and disorienting.

"I'm 6, going on 6! And a half!" the bubbly insect replied, throwing up seven fingers in front of his face, quickly realizing the incorrect number of digits and curling one finger to half the length of the others.

Robotnik stared at Charmy from the corner of his eye, silence wafting through their conversation until he began to chuckle. "Hahaha... hahahahahaha!" the mad doctor let it erupt into a loud cackle, throwing a hand to his forehead to keep himself from loosing balance.

Charmy lowered his hands slowly, his brows furrowed in confusion. "What's so funny?"

Robotnik gained control of himself after a moment. "Hee hee hee hee! Six years! Do you realize what I would give for 6 years _here_ , you fortunate brat!? Hahahaha!" the human quickly lost control and continued cackling, rage peeked out from his laughter.

"Fortunate... is that because you want to be a kid again? Vector calls that a midlife crisis or something"

" _Who said I was ever a kid..?_ " he cryptically replied, all laughter and smiles gone. Leaving only a sinister glare, sharp and cold.

"Wh... wha... huh?" Charmy muttered.

"..." But he received no answer. Just constant, merciless eye contact from the imposing human.

"Uhhhh, ya know what? I'd better be getting to that party. Don't wanna be late..."

"..." Again there was no answer from the evil doctor, his silence slowly reaching up Charmy's spine, edging up to his neck as if it were a noose. The little boy shuffled his weight from side to side, trying to fumble his way out of the awkward and frightening situation.

"... sooooo... I'mgonnago" but before he could move toward Amy's apartment, Robotnik's voice froze him in place.

"Where?" he asked, innocently enough.

"What?" Charmy squeaked, taking a step back from the abrasive presence of the shadowy man.

"Where are you going?" he repeated in the same exact tone, taking an unwavering step toward Charmy.

The costumed six year old paused for a moment before moving back another step and answering, "Uh... I don't think I should tell yo-"

"Why is that?" Robotnik took two steps closer to the bee, invading his personal space.

"I'm... pretty sure you're dangerous..." explained the child, breaking eye contact to look at anything but the creepy scientist looming over him. Robotnik leaned down in muteness, his obscenely sharp glasses cut through the distance between him and Charmy, casting a shadow over his ghastly face. Charmy's breath left him as Robotnik came to his eye level and cracked his eerie grin at the boy.

" _Is that so..?_ " he said, making Charmy quiver in his daunting shadow. His costume suddenly felt tight and restricting, the need for escape tugged at him harder than ever before.

"Uhhhh-"

"Where are your parents, child..?" Robotnik interrupted as he stayed an intruder in the boy's personal space.

"What- what did you- just-?"

" _They're dead, aren't they?_ " a wave of ice enveloped the small boy at the question. His pupils shrank, sweat poured down his face, his mouth hung open without his consent. The bee couldn't breathe, no matter how hard he tried to make his lungs work, they just wouldn't. His eyes finally locked with Robotnik's and Charmy regretted it more than anything. Behind his glasses were the most souless... alien eyes he'd ever seen. They bore into his skull, drilled through his brain, and shot right through to his heart, wrapped around his entire body and squeezed all of his deepest darkest fears out of him.

Those weren't the eyes of a person. _They were the eyes of a monster_.

"I... I-" Charmy finally found his voice, but Robotnik wasn't through talking.

"How did you kill them?"

"What?!"

"Why did you kill them? What did they do?"

"Wh- What the heck-?!"

"Don't tell me... you don't remember the act? How could someone forget such a... _pleasurable_ _moment?_ "

"You're really starting to freak me out, Robotnik..." squeaked the young arthropod, which incited a very unpredictable reaction from the doctor. He went rigid, the playful grin on his face disappeared, replaced with a foul grimace. His brows angled in fury, the shadows on his face gained new sharpness as he finally returned to an upright position, effectively leaving Charmy's personal space.

"... There goes that name again..." he said to himself, pressing hidden buttons on his jacket's sleeve. Charmy couldn't tell what was happening, but he did notice a distant light in the sky coming closer to where they stood. Before he could ask what was going on, Robotnik continued to converse.

"I won't tolerate..." he said, louder than he'd said anything tonight. The light was finally just overhead, Charmy could clearly make it out now. It was one of Robotnik's many robots, it's sheer size rendered Charmy speechless for a moment, giving Robotnik the opportunity to have the device's tractor beam reel him into the massive machine.

"BEING CALLED THAT NAME!" he shouted from the sky, quickly being enveloped by the machinery and appearing in an illuminated cockpit. Swift movements on the control panel caused a massive metallic arm to swing down at the helpless bee.

"Whoa!" Charmy screamed before flying out of harm's way. The robot's arm slammed through the building next to Amy's apartment, within seconds it collapsed on itself. Charmy's stomach dropped at the damage, if he had been a few seconds late, that would have been him. He whipped his head back toward Robotnik's machine and quickly got ahold of himself.

 _Charmy, you're a member of the Chaotix Detective Agency! You've fought bad guys before, this is nothing you can't handle!_ he said to himself before flying full speed at the robot, stinger first. Just like all of the other times he's fought Robotnik's robots, they all fall before his mighty stinger, no matter how big and tough they look, Charmy could pierce right through thei-

 _Tink!_

 _Huh?_ Charmy looked down at where his stinger was, expecting to feel some sort of cathartic sensation that goes along with flying through a robot's body. But there his stinger was, merely touching the shell of the robot. Not puncturing through it like a juice box, not breaking through it like a window, just... laying on the surface.

He flew backward and tried again, and again all that happened was the loud _tink_ of a tap, like a pen on a table. Suddenly, metal slammed into him from behind, swatting him like the insect he was all the way across the block and into a few buildings. After flying through the last building, Charmy skidded across the asphalt, painfully slowing to a stop on the ground.

"Ugh... that really hurt... oh man... I can't hurt it with my stinger..." he groaned as he picked himself off the ground, anchoring himself to a tree for support. "What am I... gonna do now..?" Robotnik wasted no time pursuing the tiny ice cream costumed boy, the robot's figure looming closer to Charmy's current resting spot, eclipsing his view of the full moon. Charmy frantically searched his mind of the options he had left.

Remembering Espio's teachings, centered himself, closing his eyes to focus his energy to the surface. Soon, his reddish orange aura glowed from his hands, suddenly transforming into crackling electricity.

"Thunder..." he called out, the electricity culminating into a ball of sparks and flashes attached to his fingertips. The imposing robot came closer to the brave bee, its sole intent to end him. Defiantly, Charmy flung his fingers at the massive robot.

"SHOOT!" he screamed, launching the electric ball directly at the mechanical menace. Swiftly it made contact with the monstrous robot and spread across its surface.

"YES! TAKE THAT!" the hyperactive child cheered, waiting for the attack to render the enemy into a smoldering pile of scrap metal. But as quickly as the thunder attack covered the robot, it fizzled out of existence, the robotic figure still intact and still aiming for Charmy. The antenna youth's jaw hit the ground, he found himself frozen once again. Thunder Shoot always worked on robots, without fail. Until tonight, when he needed it most. As the robot morphed its shoulders into giant cannons, the bug boy could do nothing. No other attack would work, he had nothing left against the madman and his death machine.

Massive lasers blasted out of the robot's cannons and nearly disintegrated Charmy, but his instincts finally kicked in and flew him out of harm's way. Unfortunately, they also flew him out of his costume which was now a smoking pile of dust. The laser cannons began charging once more, the magenta glow bathed the landscape in menacing light. Charmy shrieked in terror and fluttered his wings as fast as he could, rushing away from the daunting enemy.

Scorching hot laser blasts followed him where he went, their onslaught merciless and deadly, Charmy was barely dodging in time. He flew through masses of trees, buildings, even underwater, there was no escape. All he could do was run. And he couldn't do that much longer.

Weary wings carried him to a collection of warehouses, the newest laser finally clipping him before he could make any plans. He hollered in pain, his left side felt like it was dipped in boiling hot chocolate. Wide eyes clasped shut as he spiraled downward, crashing headfirst through the roof of a warehouse and slamming into some large boxes. Luckily, they only carried packing peanuts, but the damage Charmy sustained was still serious.

Robotnik descended upon the warehouse, a thin light scanned over the structure, looking for the bee. The light inched closer to Charmy's location and he panicked. Flinging his head around the massive collection of boxes and various support beams, he saw a door below him. Without a second thought, he jumped down and burst through the door, slamming it behind him in a futile effort to keep himself hidden from the sensor.

All Charmy could see were more warehouses, identical to each other in every way except for numbers and letters addressing individual storage facilities from others. He nearly took to the sky again, before realizing he wasn't going to be hidden for long if he flew to the robot's eye level. So his oversized feet bolted across the landscape in frantic fear, the constant thought of escape replaying over and over again in his head until he suddenly came to the edge of the warehouse property.

A towering concrete wall, smoother than any concrete he'd ever seen blocked his way unsympathetically. Visibly telling him there was no way out now. Charmy's eyes darted along the wall and caught a small warehouse, smaller than the others, hidden among them. _Perfect_. In seconds he was through the door and hiding in one of the massive crates that held packing peanuts. Hurried breaths rushed out of his lungs uncontrollably, he tried to stifle them, quiet them just a little, but he had no such luck. His heart hammered against his chest, ready to break through and run away itself. Shivers wracked his body uncomfortably as he curled in on himself and hoped that this night would end with his survival.

"Please don't find me. Please don't let him find me. Please someone save me," he mouthed, tears creeping out of his eyes as the faces of his friends presented themselves in the front of his mind.

"Vector... Espio... guys... please help me..." he whispered, the sound of laser fire in the distance causing him to flinch wildly, flinging styrofoam peanuts across the box. His eyes squeezed out more tears. "Espio, please... save me... Vector, notice I'm gone and come find me, please... somebody help me..."

Suddenly, explosions erupted all around him, shaking the crate he hid in from it's perch and breaking it open, Charmy and the peanuts flowing out of it. The young boy scrambled for a new hiding place, but the all too familiar thin light skated across his body. It was too late. Large metallic fingers curled into the front of the tiny warehouse and immediately the entire front and roof of the structure was flung into oblivion. The lit up cockpit of the massive robot edged into view, Robotnik's face leering at the sprawled and helpless Charmy. It was far too late.

Before he could even think, the boy shouted, "Hey I'm sorry, Dr. Robotnik! I don't know what I said, but maybe we could talk about it?" The human merely stared at him, even at a distance, his eyes bore into Charmy's soul, stealing his strength and his hope in one look.

With a voice caressed in hatred and death, Robotnik responded, "The time for talking is over, child. Now it's time... to say good night" The tears cascaded off of his chubby cheeks as the large robot hand reached for the innocent boy.

"But I ain't sleepy!" he cried. And just when the metal hand was about to take hold of the bee and crush him into a stain, it glowed. Not in the same magenta light that it was supposed to be familiar with... but in a light aqua light. Its movement froze completely in this cool glow, Charmy could hear Robotnik growling in discontent before the arm flung toward the cockpit and collided with the thick glass, cracking it, but not shattering it. Robotnik rushed backward from the impact, hitting his back roughly against the back wall of the cockpit.

Before Charmy could really register what just happened, several sharp objects stuck into the cracks of the glass and exploded, sending the robot reeling backwards and clearly off-balance. He could make out something green appear above the teetering robot and slam down on top of it, the vibration of the impact as hard as the ones caused by the missiles. The metallic atrocity crashed onto the ground, completely out of Charmy's sight. Rapidly, tender hands picked Charmy off the floor and placed him face to face with the best sight he'd seen all day.

"ESPIOOOOO!" Charmy cried, gratefulness flowing out of him along with the tears.

"Are- are you alright, _ko_!? What did that bastard do to you?! HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP, CHARMY?!" the ninja screamed, so worried he didn't even notice he wasn't holding up his hands. But Charmy didn't care, his little arms curled tightly around Espio's head, not minding his horn poking his cheek. Compared to all he had been through, that was the least painful thing he'd experienced. As Espio struggled with the desire to check Charmy's injuries, shout out English and Japanese curses, hug the child for dear life, and picking him up and running him back home, Vector rushed to the duo, swallowing them both in his large arms.

"Charmy! Are ya alright?!" he shouted, separating Charmy and Espio so he could look the kid up and down, "Look at me, Charm! Look at me- Did- did he hurt ya?!" evaluate his injuries, "HOW MANY FINGERS I GOT UP, KID!?" check his response time, but forgetting to raise any fingers for the test.

"VECTORRRRR!" was all Charmy could muster, his vision blurred by the amount of tears he was producing.

"Are ya okay? Can ya move on your ow-?"

"We were worried when you didn't show up at the-"

"Just glad we got here before that son of a-"

"I can't believe he attacked you, it doesn't make any-"

"We just followed the mess he made and-"

"Guys!" Charmy yelled, pausing both of his rambling partners. They both looked at him worried about what he would say next. But all he did was resume their group hug.

"I'm okay now! I hoped you would save me... and you guys came right on time!" the helmet clad boy tightened his embrace, squeezing some of their anxiety away. "I'm just fine now" he whispered between their heads, the two reptiles looked at each other, unaddressed questions and concerns melting away, and brought up their arms to encircle Charmy in their embrace. The three shared a small moment of reprieve, the sounds of battle and loud shouts of, "IT'S NO UUUUUSE!" only a background noise in their dome of safety and love.

Pretty soon, the sounds stopped and a comfortable hush came over the area. After a few seconds of silence, a voice approached the trio, "I'm sorry, he attacked you. Somehow he escaped into this time period again!" Charmy's eyes opened and he saw a white hedgehog, enveloped in billowing light aqua energy, floating down toward them. "I'm glad he wasn't up to anything too bad this time" he said, relief in his voice. His eyes, golden and fiery flicked over the scene, focused on Charmy, and softened. And if Charmy didn't no better, he could see a pleasant envy on the gold bangled hedgehog's face.

Espio finally released his hold on the child, Vector following suit as they turned to Silver. "Uh, I wouldn't be too sure about that..." Charmy said tentatively. Espio whipped his head back to Charmy, bending to one knee and grabbing the sides of his face.

"What do you mean? What did he do?!" he shouted, panic still clearly driving him.

Charmy calmly took his hands from his cheeks and held onto them for a moment. "I found him standing outside of Amy's apartment. He was staring up at the building, in the shadows. Like a complete freak-a-zoid!"

"That's just unhelpfully vague!" Vector shrieked, worry still driving him. Silver's eyes were wide, his mouth agape before he regained his composure, a stern seriousness covering his expression.

"That was the point, Vector. This guy _never_ fully gives away anything until he thinks he's won. And if he was standing in front of Amy's apartment today, where we were all defenseless... then he's definitely up to something heinous..." Silver said, biting back a growl.

"Well then what do we do?!" Vector asked, grabbing Silver by his shoulders. The future hedgehog looked to his side for a moment, understanding how hard it must be for Vector since he's never dealt with Eggman Nega before, and the man had already done so much damage to Charmy and his town.

"... We'll just have to keep our ears and eyes open for anything suspicious..." Espio responded for Silver, which helped the strong crocodile to calm down a bit and let the hedgehog go.

"I'm afraid that's our only option, now that he's disappeared again. At least we know that he's here, in this time. And if there's one thing I know about Eggman Nega... it's that he's persistent beyond reason" the white furred boy continued.

"So... this scary guy with shades is from the future, he spent all night chasing me, trying to kill me... and he'll be back?" Charmy recapped, directing his questions toward Silver. Silver looked at him quizzically for a second before responding seriously.

"Definitely."

"THEN HE SHOULD HAVE DRESSED UP AS THE TERMINATOR!"

* * *

 _ **So yeah, I made this whole story solely for the final line. XDDDD And also because over on deviantArt I'm holding a Dr. Eggman Nega contest and I wanted to incorporate him in a story to spread the word a bit. If you're on DA, definitely come by my profile and you'll see something about it on my page. It was mostly for the joke at the end though. |**_ **D**

 _ **Ooh, and try to guess what robot Eggman Nega is piloting. I didn't describe it properly for this reason. I'll give ya a hint, it's a final boss robot! Have fun guessing! See you next time for a backstory-esque chapter! ^**_ **w^**


	10. Charmy and the sunglasses pig (V)

_**Okay, serious story time. Hope you enjoy...**_

 _ **Update 8/22/2018: I'm going to list songs that go with most of Vector's chapters that fit directly into the theme of the story and help illustrate the inner feelings of the characters. This is optional, obviously, but in case you're interested, I will have a song in the beginning author notes of his chapters for you to put on loop as you read. Some songs will have profanity, but I will put a warning before I mention the song, so no worries. ;3**_

 _ **The song for this chapter is Bread and Water by Sheila Nicholls. Pop it into Youtube and loop it for maximum emotional experience. :D**_

* * *

It was a crisp morning when the call came in. A young dancer was reported missing since last night. It hadn't been 24 hours so the police hadn't taken the case, the parents begged for Vector's help over the phone. That was all it took to get them out the door. The club was located in the shadiest part of downtown Central City, the infamous Night Babylon. Home to the scum of Mobius and the place the police pretended didn't exist; its only saving grace was the part where Rouge stayed, her Club Rouge was the safest place in all of Night Babylon because of her reputation. Vector always appreciated that about her, even if she was a piece of work herself, she didn't allow her place of business to encourage criminal activity.

Too bad that wasn't the club the girl worked at. No, she hung her high-heels over at the Sweaty Martini. _Classy,_ Vector thought. That place was basically a magnet for drug dealers, thugs, gangsters, and all the other jerkwads that party with those types. Poor kid probably couldn't afford to do any better.

It was a long walk through Night Babylon, the trio stuck together the entire trip, Vector had already filled Charmy in on the dangers of wandering off in that neighborhood and the insect opted to holding his hand once they entered the unsavory territory. Charmy looked all around at the high buildings with dead neon lights and their dark alleys, hiding cruel secrets not even he wanted to uncover.

He took note that it was darker here than anywhere else in the city, even though it was early in the morning, there was a smoky fog blanketing the sky directly above the area. He supposed that's why people called it Night Babylon.

"Hey Vector, why would a lady wanna work in a dump like this place?" he asked, looking up at his large boss.

"I'm sure she didn't wanna work in dis area, Charmy" Vector replied, noticing a homeless man drinking out of a large bottle covered in a paper bag. He could smell him all the way from the other side of the street, the man was drunk at 8 in the morning.

"Sometimes, life don't give ya much choice..." he finished, quickening his pace past a dark alley.

"Whatever unfortunate series of events that have landed the young woman to work in an environment this distasteful are not our concern, little one. Our task is to find her as soon as possible" Espio said, side-stepping droplets of an unknown liquid from above them. Whatever it was it certainly wasn't rain.

"Espio's right, kid. We gotta stay focused on findin' the girl 'n the first step is findin' out what she was doin' at da last place people saw her"

"That Sweaty Martin place?" Charmy asked, scrunching up his face at the name. Vector let out a deep chuckle at the sight and the boy realized it was the first time he smiled since they got the call.

"Yeah, dat scuzzhole. We're gonna ask da management a few questions, see where da trail leads us"

"Okay, but are we almost there? The air here taste like a sewer of sadness" the bee joked, hoping to get another smile out of Vector.

"Yeah, we're almost there, jus' a few blocks 'n then we turn left 'n it should be right in front 'o us" the croc didn't even smirk though.

"You wrote down the directions this time, Vector?" asked the magenta chameleon to his left.

"Nah, I was here once when I was younger. I remember some 'o da street names. The club's on 56th 'n Levett. We're on 56th 'n Levett is comin' up in a couple blocks" he explained.

"Ugh okay, can we just hurry up?!" the impatient child asked, yanking Vector's larger hand a bit.

"Sorry squirt. Runnin' around in a place like dis would draw attention to us. And we ain't got time for dat sorta thing. Jus' keep floatin' briskly 'n we'll get there" he instructed. The green crocodile led his companions the rest of the way to their destination. He looked around to confirm that no one was tailing them and he didn't show it, but he was relieved no one was paying attention to them.

Espio knocked on the door of the establishment politely. But there was no answer. Before he could try again, Vector's massive fist punched the door down revealing the entryway of the club. Espio whipped around to berate his bulky leader, but Vector strode through the doorway.

"We ain't got time for pleasantries, Esp" the emerald scaled man said looking around the large room before him. No windows, that was the first thing that grabbed his attention. The poles hanging from the ceiling were next though, the elevated catwalk the scanty rods were stationed in were lit with their own lights. Stools were seated all around the stage, while cushioned booths were along the perimeter of the walls. Multicolored spotlights were thankfully turned off, allowing the basic fluorescent lights to illuminate the wide room.

It was a typical strip-club, nothing strange about it... But Vector couldn't help the feeling of anxiety creeping up his tail. This place was not good, he could feel it. Something bad happened to that girl.

There was someone at the bar, an island in the center of this display, who was drinking a dark liquor before Vector's entrance. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?! Who the hell are you?!" the man shouted as he stomped from behind the bar toward the detectives. The man was a pig, short and portly, but he rocked a bleach-blond mohawk and a black leather jacket, shining in the lights similar to Vector and Espio's scalene hide.

And his eyes were hidden by dark, sharp sunglasses. Why he was wearing sunglasses inside of a building with no windows was beyond Vector. But his feelings of anxiety only increased when the striking pig stood before him. It wasn't as if he was afraid of the pig, _Hell no,_ it was just... peculiar to see the man. He was sure they'd never met but... there was an eerie air about all of this. He didn't like it.

"I said who the hell are you jack-offs?! Do you have any idea who I work for?! I'm connected, you dumbasses and when my boss finds out you broke in here, he's gonna come after-!" Espio appeared behind the pig, took the glock hidden in his jacket and threw it across the room before the pig could fully grasp the handle.

"We aren't here to hurt you or your business, please forgive the intrusion, but my colleague is rather impatient today" the shinobi politely apologized, as the pig yelped in surprise at the ninja's sudden appearance at his side.

"Yeah, mister! A lady that works here got kidnapped by some bad guys! We gotta find her quick!" Charmy explained, grabbing the pig by the collar and shaking him a bit.

"Feh! You guys are with that whore's parents that called last night?! I already told em, I don't know where she went! After her shift, she left with her coworkers like she always does, go bother them!" the sunglasses pig swatted his jacket free of Charmy's grip and adjusted his collar. Vector walked up to the pig and leaned down to his eye level.

"Don't refer to dat girl as a whore ever again, understand?" he threatened, his sharp eyes slicing right through the pig's tough guy facade. The stout man gulped down a nervous laugh and backed away from Vector a bit.

"Right, sorry. She's not a whore, she's a sweet kid. Hope ya find her"

"We will once ya tell us exactly what ya saw last night, right before she disappeared" the gruff giant demanded.

"Jeez, kid, I told ya: she came to work, did her job, left with her friends. That's all I know, I swear"

"What are these other friends' names?"

"I got a list in my office, I can go grab it if ya want"

"How's 'bout we all go 'n grab it together, buddy?" Vector said, Espio and Charmy back at his side. None of them really gave the pig a choice in the matter. With a disgruntled sigh, he made his way to the office, the Chaotix right behind him.

As he made his way across the club, the older pig mumbled under his breath, "Kids nowadays, no respect for the decent hardworkin' people of the previous generation. Big, green gator or not, you should have better manners"

Instantly, Vector froze, causing Charmy to lightly bump into the back of his head. Like a statue, Vector stood in place, his mouth open and his eyes wide. Espio walked a few paces before he noticed his leader stuck in place.

"Vector?" he asked.

"You okay, boss?" Charmy asked, floating in front of the trembling colossus. The flying toddler looked upon Vector, trying to figure out what happened to him. His countenance fell as he studied his usually boisterous boss. The boy wasn't sure what was wrong with him, his eyes were looking at Charmy... but it felt like the crocodile couldn't see him. Like he was looking through him at something else. Something... horrible...

"Hey, you want this list of girls or not, jolly green?" the pig commented after he realized the three intruders weren't right behind him anymore. Espio shot a look at the sunglasses pig, making the man clamp his mouth shut.

"Vector, what troubles you?" he asked, hoping to get an answer this time. Vector slowly closed his mouth and stood up straight, though his eyes were still unfocused. Silence filtered through the group of detectives as Vector tentatively resumed movement.

"... I was here before" he breathed, so quiet Charmy couldn't even hear it. Only Espio's trained senses detected the short, implicating phrase.

"What'd ya say Vector?" Charmy asked, confusion and worry written on his face. Vector's attention finally came back and he saw Charmy, who was basically laying on his snout. There was only an instant of relief for the bee though; for Vector saw the club owner in the corner of his eye and his focus shifted on him.

"You..." he said in a voice brutish and quiet, yet more powerful than any shout. Vector had moved away from Charmy and the crocodile was making a B-line to the sunglasses wearing pig. Espio heard the malice in his coworker's tone and found himself unsure of what was to come.

"... me what?" the shady man asked, clueless to Vector's intentions. Without warning, his massive hands slammed the pudgy man against the wall.

"Ugh!" he grunted, pain echoing through his bones as Vector used his incredible strength to pin the pig to his eye level. And the pig wished he hadn't; Vector's gaze was piercing and merciless, knives that stabbed into his shoulders and injecting paralysis through his entire being. It was the glare of a predator. Prowling for a dark satisfaction.

"You were there" the crocodile said staunchly, daring the pig to refute. His harsh voice was the only thing that made the pig find his tongue again.

"Augh, get off of-!" Vector's hefty arm pressed the pig deeper into the wall, cracking its surface.

"Ten years ago! You hired us, paid us in cash backstage!"

"Vector what's-?!" Espio tried to speak amongst the escalated situation.

"Ten years ag- I don't know what you're talking-" More pressure was applied to the pig's chest, squeezing his ribcage to a frightening degree. "AUGH! You're hurting me-!"

"Where is she?" the brutal detective asked, interrupting the cries of his victim.

"I told ya alread-!"

"Ya said ya wanted to stay in touch wit her NOW ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Vector screamed, clearly loosing whatever sliver of patience he had left as he gripped the man's arm and tightened until he felt the bending of the pig's bones.

"GWAAAH!" the man screeched in response to the pain.

"What is happening?!" the helmet clad boy asked Espio, hoping he would have the answer. But the calm chameleon was in the same position as the clueless child. "Vector, what are you doing?!" he shouted, a hint of fear in his voice. But Vector couldn't hear him. He couldn't hear anything but the sound of a pathetic pig who hadn't given him what he wanted to hear.

"WHERE IS SHE, YA SHITHEAD?!" he shouted furiously, spit spraying out of his massive jaws like venom.

"I don't know what you're talking about man-"

"LIE TO ME AGAIN 'N I'LL BREAK EVERY BONE IN YER BODY!" the vehement crocodile threatened, his voice booming across the club.

"Vector, you must calm dow-" Espio started as he took a step towards the unhinged Vector.

Charmy whipped his head around trying to piece together why this insane thing was happening.

"WHERE IS SHE?!"

"PLEASE MAN, I DON'T KNOW WHO _SHE_ IS-!" _Crack!_ "AAAAAAAHHHHH! GAAAAAAWD!" the pig howled, his arm shattered and mangled in Vector's unrelenting grip. Charmy's voice shriveled up in his throat as his tiny hands slowly enveloped his mouth. Espio's eyes shot wide open at the sound, his heart pounding fiercely in his sunken chest.

"YOU THINK DIS IS A GAME!? YOU THINK I WON'T SNAP YA INTO A THOUSAND PIECES 'TIL YA TELL ME WHAT I WANNA KNOW?!"

"VECTOR! ENOUGH!" the smaller ninja commanded, his frantic pace quickened with rage. The bee discovered his voice upon Espio's strong opposition to Vector's behavior.

"WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?! WHERE THE HELL IS SHEEEE!?"

"AAAAAAAUUUUGHHH!" the man's weakened screams still echoed off of the walls and invaded Charmy's soul. Espio managed to grab onto Vector's hand, that still gripped the pig's crushed arm.

"STOP THIS VECTOR!" he demanded defiantly, his grip strong and unwavering. Violent irises shifted to assault the magenta chameleon. The harsh bloodlust of Vector's gaze stunned Espio, he had never seen such an expression on his friend, not in all the years they'd known each other. The snarl in his breath, the teeth that were unsheathed like blades, the pulsating heat radiating off of the arm he clutched desperately. This wasn't Vector, it just wasn't. It couldn't be.

The world suddenly went sideways for Espio, as his body was flung across the room. Vector had broken his grip and tossed him away. He had been careless. His body slammed into the wall, nearly breaking through it. He had been careless AND Vector wasn't holding back.

"ESPIO!" Charmy screamed, horrified tears escaping out of his eyes.

"STAY OUTTA DIS, ESPIO!" Vector screamed over his shoulder before turning back to face the moaning pig, blood pooling under his shattered arm. "WHERE DA HELL IS SHE?!" he barked, making the injured man he'd victimized flinch miserably. _Wham!_ Vector punched the cracked wall right next to the sunglasses pig.

"WHERE?!" he bellowed, reaching his enormous fist back and launching it forward again.

 _Wham!_

"WHEEERE?!"

 _Wham!_

"WHEEEEEEERE?!"

The world went sideways on Vector, suddenly he found himself twisting through the air, until he smashed on top of the bar. Espio stood where Vector did, his arms returning to his side after the judo flip he used.

"Stand down, Vector!" the ninja warrior warned, getting into one of his most powerful fighting stances. Charmy recognized Espio's change in stance and looked between the fuming crocodile rising to his feet and his battle ready companion, confused and scared.

"Why are you guys fighting..?" he breathed, the trail of tears branching off his cheeks and watering his shuddering gloves. The ignorant child couldn't believe what was happening before him or why it was happening. Vector had gone crazy, Espio was about to fight him, seriously fight him, a guy was slumped on the ground crying bitter tears as his broken bones splintered through his flesh.

"Ohhhh God, I need a hospitaaaaal..." the sunglasses pig whimpered through the tears and blood, pouring from his face. The young arthropod didn't understand how this happened and couldn't find a way to stop it.

"WHADDYA THINK YER DOIN' ESPIO!?" Vector bellowed, crazed with rage and smashing the glasses of alcohol housed on the shelves behind the counter. The high-pitched crashes pierced Charmy's ears in a crescendo of chaos.

"You must get ahold of yourself, Vector! This man has done nothing to deserve this!"

"Guys, please stop-" Charmy squeaked.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHIN''!" the violent juggernaut cried before sending a chunk of counter blasting toward Espio. Swift hands picked up the tortured pig and disappeared before the flying rubble had a chance to touch either of him. They materialized in front of Charmy, where Espio plopped the squealing, bleeding pig in his arms and immediately bolted back in the fray.

Vector inhaled sharply before opening his jaws and shooting a massive blast of fire, swirling and twisting toward the lean ninja. Espio leapt to the ceiling and sprinted on the surface, the flames failing to connect with him. Vector clamped his jaws shut, inhaled sharply once more and shot out a blast of concussive sound waves, decimating the ceiling's surface and sending Espio hurtling back toward the floor.

The second his feet touched the ground, Vector was within arm's length. He swung wide, massively thick arms swiped wildly at the smaller lizard, but Espio dodged, skillfully weaving through the attacks. Espio sent a kick to his stomach followed by a palm strike to the bottom of his jaw. Normally, that would have been enough to stun Vector, just for a few microseconds. But thanks to the unyielding rage burning inside of him, Vector powered through the blows and headbutted Espio to the ground.

The chameleon was caught off-guard, receiving the blow and rebounding off the floor like a basketball. Once he bounced back up, Vector's large fist crashed into Espio, launching him through the air and breaking through several entertainment poles on his way to a booth across the room.

Charmy's breath was hitched in his throat the entire time. It was only when Vector's oppressive gaze centered on him that he found his breathing again. It came back with a vengeance, the boy was hyperventilating under the bloodthirsty eyes of his beloved boss.

Heavy, imposing steps hastened toward Charmy and the whimpering, panicking lump wearing sunglasses in his lap. He could do nothing but stammer and stare as the broad ferocious creature plucked the traumatized man out of his possession, like an apple from a branch. Destined to be devoured.

"YOU HAVE EXACTLY 5 SECONDS TO TELL ME WHERE SHE IS OR I'MMA RIP YER GODDAMN HEAD OFF! ONE!" Vector threatened, his hand covering the pig's entire torso while the other moved for his mohawked head. The pig wailed uncouthly, he finally had enough. Whatever information he had was not worth dying over.

"ALRIGHT! I GAVE HER TO THE DINGO BROTHERS LAST NIGHT! THEY TOOK HER TO SOME PLACE IN RADICAL HIGHWAY TERRITORY. THEY DIDN'T TELL ME BECAUSE THEY WERE WORRIED ABOUT SITUATIONS LIKE THIS! THAT'S ALL I KNOW, I SWEA-"

"TWO!" the emerald scaled colossus interrupted, shutting the pig up. Charmy's breathing hadn't slowed down at all, he was having a panic attack. He knew the pig was telling the truth, there was no way the man still had the gaul to lie in this situation, he had just got done weeping and drooling in the six year old's arms. Vector didn't realize that?

"STOP THIS, VECTOR!" Espio cried desperately from across the room, struggling to his feet before a pink bubble shot at him and expanded across the booth he stood in front of. Espio struggled against the sticky trap, but he couldn't get himself free. And he knew it.

"I just told you everything I know about the girl!" the pig whimpered weakly, bringing Vector's attention back toward the pig. The fury that had driven him through this entire ordeal spiked at the man's insipid pleading.

"YOU KNOW DA GIRL I'M REALLY ASKIN' 'BOUT, DON'T PLAY GAMES WIT ME! THREE!" he continued, placing his hefty fingers on the pig's head.

"The girl he's really asking about..?" Charmy sighed, his breath finally coming back to a regular rhythm as he focused on the peculiar sentence. Was he not looking for the girl who was kidnapped last night?

"I swear on my mother's grave I don't know who you're talki-" the sunglasses pig tried to reason with the crocodile.

"4!" But reason was the furthest thing from Vector's mind.

"VECTOR, STAND DOWN THIS INSTANT!" the struggling Espio commanded, hopelessly reaching out for his friend. To stop him, to keep him from doing something he could never undo. To keep him from becoming a cold blooded murderer. But all he could do was struggle against the unholy mess of bubble gum keeping him from moving forward.

"Please just let me gooooo-!" the pig hollered pathetically. But his pleading fell on deaf ears.

"Fiv-!"

"NOOOO!" a young voice cut through the tension as Vector's fingers were wrenched from the beaten pig's head, halting the crocodile's intentions. Charmy floated between the bleeding man and the fuming Vector. His tiny hand had pushed Vector's higher, releasing the hold his index and thumb had on the pig's head. His other hand was pointed toward Vector's face, asking for the viscous man to halt his countdown.

Charmy's face was distorted, crinkled into a pleading expression, tears flowing delicately down his red cheeks. Vector was frozen in this moment, all the fury, all the anger, the burning heat of hatred... started dying down the moment his eyes met Charmy's. He hadn't even realized his breath was taken away by the boy's selfless action until he tried to speak, his shock kept Vector from pushing the brave bee out of his way.

"Vector... please... stop..." whispered Charmy. And the sound of his voice killed the detective's rage. The child's crying eyes were draining the intense violence in the old croc's heart. Charmy focused solely on getting his father figure back to his old self, willing his emotions onto Vector with all of his might.

After a moment that felt decades long passed, Vector broke the tentative silence. "Charmy, move"

Gently, Charmy shook his head, never breaking eye contact with Vector. "I can't" he squeaked

"Kid, I mean it, move!"

"I CAN'T!" he yelled, tears spraying across Vector's face.

"You have no idea what's goin' on-!"

"THAT'S WHY I CAN'T!"

"..." Stunned, the towering adult went mute again, dropping the pig on the ground in a painful heap. A question plastered itself on his face and Charmy breathed calming breaths to answer it as best he could.

"Vector... you're so mad... and I dunno why" Charmy looked over at Espio, who had finally freed himself from the bubblegum trap and started limping over to his team, "Ya hurt Espio... and I dunno why..." his warm eyes lowered to the broken mess of a man, bleeding out on the ground. "You're about to kill this guy... and I dunno why..." After a second, Charmy looked right into Vector's eyes.

"It's like you're a different person... and this person is..." the somber boy turned his head, shut his eyes and put his hand on his mouth to keep his sobs from interrupting him. But he just couldn't hold them in.

" _He's scaring me..._ " he breathed, in the most traumatized voice Vector had ever heard. His glare softened and the fire in his eyes completely died. His shoulders lowered, without him even realizing they were raised. His muscles relaxed, veins hid under the surface of his skin, every fiber of his being softened with the sound of the precious child in front of him.

"So please... _please just stop_..." the emotionally shattered boy begged, composure completely lost as he weeped. He dropped to the ground, losing whatever strength that kept him floating, crushing him under the weight of this sudden ordeal.

"..." Vector remained silent, words had left him completely once Charmy admitted his fear. _Of him._ Vector stared helplessly at the sobbing boy before him, this boy he had thought of as his own, this boy that meant more to Vector than he'll ever know. This boy that surprised him with his bravery, optimism, and light. That was the boy collapsed on the ground, tears pouring down his face where only smiles were supposed to be.

Espio quickly made his way over and kneeled down to tend to Charmy, the toddler's arms shooting around his chest as he buried his face right against his abdomen. The calm chameleon tried to soothe him, rubbing reassuring circles on his back and whispering sweet words to him, promising that everything was going to be alright.

Vector impulsively reached out to them, wanting to fix what he'd done to them. However, golden piercing eyes flicked toward him, unspoken threats and violent intents flowing out of them like a rushing waterfall. The intensity of the ninja's deadly expression had Vector reeling backward, a painful sting in his chest resonated through his entire body. He had messed up.

"I swear I told you everything I know..." a weak voice pleaded, coughing up blood right after. Vector took in the pig, his sunglasses missing from his face, tears streaming across his cheeks along with trails of blood. "please don't kill me... I don't know anything else..." It was as if the bulky reptile had seen the damage he caused for the first time, the sight disturbed and disgusted him. "please for the love of God don't hurt me anymore..." _It really was like another person did that to him._

He averted his gaze from one horror to the next. The strip-club was damaged beyond what he remembered causing. Glass was everywhere, scorch marks like brush strokes painted all over the ceiling and walls, a massive crater sitting in one wall. And blood. Good God, the blood... it was trailing all along the floor. _How did all of that come out of one guy's arm?_ The bar was gone, just a pile of debris now, half of the counter was embedded in the wall, which crumbled at some point and collapsed revealing the small office the pig was going to take them to. It was like an earthquake hit the place.

"... Charmy... Espio..." he gasped, looking down at his hands, gloves stained with the club owner's blood, chips of his humerus and radius bones caught in the filthy fabric. "Oh God..." he held back the nausea rushing from his head to his stomach. Terrified footsteps moved him away from his team, away from his victims. His eyes shifted across the entire scene, all the damage he'd done... and who he'd done it to.

"I'm... I'm..." baritone whispers shuddered out of his mouth as he continued creeping backwards.

"Vector, what is going on?" Espio asked, his earlier hostility hidden behind genuine concern for his friend.

"..." but Vector quietly shook his head as he continued staring at the works he'd wrought.

"Vector?" the chameleon tried again, Charmy lifting his tear soaked face off of Espio to look at the crocodile. And it was the last straw for him.

"... I'm sorry... I gotta... I'm... sorry" he apologized in a weak cracking voice before walking out the door.

"Vector, wait!" Charmy called, letting Espio go to chase his leader. But Espio's grip didn't loosen. Before Charmy could protest, the ninja had already taken out his cell phone and given it to the boy.

"Call 911 and stay with the pig. Do _NOT_ tell them who did this" he instructed calmly as he held Charmy's cheeks in his palms.

"I- I- Agh! Okay, but hurry back!" the young boy begrudgingly agreed, taking the phone and dialing the numbers. Espio got to his feet and was out of the door in under a second. The ninja ran up the side of the building looking across the rooftops to see where Vector fled to. Espio found him just a few blocks away, ducking into an alley.

Japanese chains wrapped around a telephone pole, sending Espio swinging through the air toward the alley. It took him no time at all to land right in front of the frantic reptile.

"Vector..." he started, not really knowing what to say.

"..."

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but we... we have to"

"..."

"That was... NOT YOU back there,"

"... How do ya know?" Vector finally spoke.

"What-"

"How do ya know if it was me or not, Espio?" the chameleon waited a moment to answer.

"Because I know you"

"Pfft! No, ya don't. Not da _real_ me..." the emerald detective turned his head from Espio, feeling the splinters of bone in his glove.

"Who cares about the real you or the fake you? Whoever did that back there is a part of my comrade Vector, and I want to know what's wrong with him"

"..."

"I will not let you leave until you speak to me"

"... I hit ya... really hard..." he breathed, regret thick in his voice.

"Yes. It was unpleasant, but I've taken worse" Espio responded, slowly walking toward Vector. He reached out carefully and put a hand on Vector's arm, hoping he'd understand how important it was to talk about whatever his problem was.

"... I'm so sorry" Vector whispered, looking Espio straight in the eye for the first time since he ran out of the club.

"There is no need to apologize... just tell me what is ailing you..."

"... No"

Espio's brow curled at the answer. "No?"

"It... It doesn't matter... the guy didn't remember, I knew it the whole time" the crocodile sighed.

"You... knew?" Espio asked, recoiling his hand from Vector's arm.

"..." his boss said nothing.

"But you... Vector, you shattered the man's arm. He may never be able to use it again" the magenta teen pointed out.

"..." still his leader was silent.

"Why on Mobius would you hurt the man if you knew he didn't have any information?!" the ninja said louder than he intended.

"I told ya. Ya don't know me" Vector responded coldly. Espio stepped back at the sheer audacity of the comment.

"... Do you seriously believe that is an appropriate response to all of this?!"

"..."

"Vector ple-"

"Espio, jus'... jus' drop this, okay?"

"... You know I can't. Not after all of that..."

"... Fine. Den I'm outta here" Vector said, walking past Espio. The ninja clutched his comrade's arm as he passed.

"No, you aren't Vect-!"

" **ESPIO!** " Vector shouted, jolting Espio and waking up everyone in the area. Vector turned his head to look at the smaller teenager. And immediately Espio relented. The reptile's face was pained, a single bitter tear dripped down his cheek as his brows furrowed in regret. His eyes were transfixed in the distance, hopeless, broken, and ashamed.

" _He said I scared 'em, Esp... how do I live wit dat?_ " he whispered, almost as softly as the sound of Espio's heart breaking the second he saw his friend's face. The chameleon's grip on his companion's large arm loosened, his strength leaving him as he grimaced in distress at the pained look on Vector's face. _It was too much. All of this, so sudden... it was just too much._ Vector resumed walking away from Espio and further into the dark alley.

"... Where are you going?" he asked sadly.

"There's a girl still missin'. I'm gonna get her back home to her parents. 'N I'm gonna do it alone, before ya ask. I can't let da guy in there..." flashes of the club owner's broken, bloodied body rushed past Vector's eyes. He winced and turned his head, forcing down the nausea once again, before continuing. "Be hurt for nothin'... I'll see ya back home tonight". Ambulance sirens were wailing in the distance, Espio was somewhat glad to hear them, while Vector just continued on his way toward Radical Highway territory.

The ninja wished to follow, but he knew it wouldn't be right. Whatever Vector was going through, whatever made him hurt that man so ferociously, he needed to do this job alone. The magenta teen stared at the disappearing back of his companion until he faded into the smog of the dingy city district. Espio walked back to the club, EMS already carrying the pig on a stretcher out of the club, Charmy trying his best to formulate a story without Vector in it to explain the injuries.

And as the magenta chameleon came to assist his coworker, his mind wandered to the one question he wanted the answer to more than anything else: If Vector wasn't questioning the injured pig about their client...

 _Then who was he looking for?_

* * *

 _ **I... I don't even know what to say after writing all of that. I cried a few times while I was writing this and I'm really excited to get deeper into Vector's backstory but... it's gonna get really depressing. So be prepared for that. ._.**_

 _ **This absolutely will be continued. As I've said before, every 5 chapters I'll focus on either Espio or Vector's stories. Any chapter with (V) will be a continuation of this chapter. The next update for this storyline is Chapter 20. Look forward to it, okay? ;D**_

 _ **Oh and the pig came from the earliest Sonic cartoon concept. He's super weird and cringy, like all of the other characters in that concept art, but I don't know, he stuck out to me.**_


	11. Charmy meets an ancient deity

_Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back. XDDDDDD_

 _This takes place right after the events of Sonic Adventure. Since they weren't in that game, I wanted to write how I think the Chaotix would react to Chaos and Tikal. That being said, I feel the need to explain: Tikal isn't dead. She isn't a ghost or a spirit, she's an actual living character. See end notes for the evidence backing this up._

* * *

An airplane flew across the sky, searching for something hidden between the clouds. The detective trio: Vector, Espio, and Charmy were its only occupants besides the pilot. Normally, this would have been a luxury out of their fiscal range, but the Chaotix helped this pilot once before so he owed them a favor.

It had been a long time since their last visit to Knuckles' island, the legendary Angel Island. Last time they were there, it was right after the Fighting tournament they all participated in. None of them won, but the after party on Angel Island was a blast. Charmy still remembered the exotic fruit salad Knuckles had, it was like nothing he had ever eaten before.

"Hey, hey, Espio! Knuckles is gonna have that fruit salad, right?" Charmy asked, as he bounced off the edge of his seat. Sitting directly in front of him, Espio leaned his head back to respond.

"I believe he may, but if not, we can always take some fruit home with us. I'm sure he won't mind"

"Hee hee! I can't wait!" the hyperactive child kicked his legs rigorously, causing Espio's backside discomfort.

"Charm, I think you're getting sidetracked. Knuckles asked us here because he wanted us to meet some people he described as 'special'. That's what's got me on pins and needles" Vector called out as he stood across the aisle, firm and staunch despite the rocking and shaking of the plane.

"Indeed. He wasn't specific at all over the phone, heaven knows who these individuals are" Espio responded before flicking his tail behind his seat and whacked Charmy's knees. A startled yelp and an end to the unwarranted back massage was the ninja's reward.

The young bee pouted a little as he nursed his stinging knee. "Aw, who cares! As long as I get some of that delicious, juicy fruit..." his words trailed off, a longing, blissful look on his face. The cheerful Charmy allowed his mind to flood with the memory of the mystical sweet fruit dish that he adored. Vector stared at his youngest underling, stuck in a daydream in the middle of his sentence.

"Way to stay on topic, kid" he scoffed, somewhat amused. No matter what the kid did, Charmy could always get a smile out of Vector.

"Hey guys, is... is that where you want to land?" the pilot called from the cockpit area, a nervous edge to his tone. Who could blame him, for as the Chaotix made their way to the plane's windshield, the glorious sight of the floating continent peaked out from behind the clouds. Its diverse mountain range was all that they could see, but even that was incredible. Milk chocolate spikes piercing through the snow white clouds, slowly alluring the plane into the island's ancient mystique.

For the Chaotix, who had bared witness to the otherworldly Angel Island several times before, it still mystified. It still stole their breath away, still impressed them, still caused them to pause whatever they were doing and stare in awe. So someone who hadn't seen the gravity-defying landmass before had to be completely beside themselves. And when Vector turned to see the pilot's expression, "completely beside himself" was putting it lightly.

Vector howled at the man's bewildered expression before responding, "Yeah, that's it! Thanks, mac! Alright boys, this is our stop!" Vector reached out to Espio, as Espio nodded and grabbed his hand. Charmy already had gotten ahold of Espio's other hand without his knowledge and Vector scanned his group, making sure they were all linked and reached for the handle of a door.

"H-H-HEY! WH-WHAT ARE YA DO-?!" the pilot screeched, fear gripping his soul.

"I meant what I said over the phone! This is gonna be a fly-by!" Vector interrupted and yanked the door open, a vacuum wave of wind sucked the trio out of the plane in an instant, sending them free-falling together, like a flailing chain.

For moments that felt like days, the detective trio plunged into the billowing clouds in the upper stratosphere. Wind roaring in their ears, pulling their cheeks back, and vibrating their skin; an exhilarating shout escaped out of Vector soliciting a louder than normal laugh out of Espio. Charmy definitely enjoyed the rush of it all, but he had experienced it hundreds of times before. The helmet clad boy envied their joyful inexperience with heights, happy they could experience such euphoria from something so common to him.

Suddenly, Espio regained his composure and squeezed Vector's hand, gaining his attention. The older reptiles turned to Charmy and he assumed they must be close enough now. With the slightest of easy, his wings fluttered and flapped almost faster than the eyes could see and slowly the high octane effects of free falling lessened. Within a matter of seconds, their feet were gently introduced to the ground.

They had arrived on Angel Island.

"Good job, boys! Knuckles should know we're here by now, so let's sit and wait for him" the emerald crocodile instructed, before sitting down on the soft grass and flipping through his playlist. Espio opted to meditating in the Full Lotus position, leaving Charmy to find a way to entertain himself.

But before he could fish through his brain for an idea, he realized... he had no idea where he was. Angel Island was the size of a country and they hadn't been to every part, so it wasn't impossible for them to land in a spot that wasn't familiar to them.

"Hey, have we ever been to this part of Knuckles' Island? Cuz I don't remember any o' this" Charmy placed a hand under his chin, contemplating if he'd been mistaken.

But Espio answered him, "Now that you mention it, this area does seem... unfamiliar" opening his eyes and looking around thoroughly.

"The heck are those things?" Vector said louder than necessary thanks to his blaring headphones. His two companions followed his finger to a peculiar sight. Round, bubbly, creatures with pink wings and tiny balls that floated above their heads. Their small appendages were bright yellow while the rest of their body was sky blue, and they seemed weightless, even when they would cease flying and walk along the ground. The tiny blue beings sang a song only they knew the lyrics to.

The three outsiders stared at them, questions plastered on their face, but only one of them let their questions fly free.

"Are they... marshmallow babies?" Charmy asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I do not think so, Charmy. Perhaps they're something mystical" Espio guessed.

"Like fairies or pixies? Crap like dat?" Vector squinted, not confident in the comparison, but honestly unsure of a better one.

"... Can we eat 'em?"

"Charmy!" Espio and Vector yelled, appalled.

"What? I'm just askin' "

"Those are inhabitants on Knuckles' island. We're not allowed to eat them" explained the chameleon, before taking another look at them and noticing how similar they looked to the blocky fruit they were holding and noticing the grumbling of his stomach. "... Without his express consent"

"Forget about 'em. Go get some o' dat fruit ya like, squirt" the buff crocodile waved his massive hand at Charmy.

" 'Kay!" Charmy responded happily, before flying away from his two resting partners. With expert flying and maneuvering, the insect youth weaved between trees and rock columns, snatching vibrantly chromatic fruit from their branches. Each one unheard of on the planet below, for they only grew on the floating island.

After gathering so much produce in his arms that he literally could hold no more, Charmy plopped to the ground in a clearing and prepared to have his fill. But before he could indulge in the first glorious bite, he heard a rustling in the grass. He turned around, seeing nothing but quiet vegetation.

Charmy turned back to his pile, suspicious but not too concerned with anything but his spoils. Once more, he started to take a bite of a succulent piece of fruit and just before he broke it's skin with his teeth, a rustling emanated from behind him.

Instinctively, the frightened arthropod bolted his eyes to the source of the sound, tensing his whole body as the fur on his neck stood on end. His sunburst orange eyes scanned the area frantically, but again, nothing could be seen. This was really starting to freak Charmy out. The young boy floated above his pile of fruit and studied his entire surroundings, just to be sure he wasn't looking in the wrong place.

Amongst the trees and grass and general jungle stuff, something stood out. There was a puddle. A plain old puddle of water. This wouldn't be a problem normally, puddles are natural... but only when it rains. It hadn't rained all day or the day before, plus there was no other puddles, or wet trees or any other traces rainfall would leave.

 _So then what in the world was that puddle doing there?_

Charmy slowly reached down and grabbed another lush fruit, his gaze never leaving the suspicious puddle. He raised the produce to his mouth and just as he was about to bite down, the puddle moved, resulting in the surrounding plants to shuffle making the familiar sound.

"I KNEW IT!" Charmy roared, jabbing his finger at the squirming liquid. And he wished he didn't. As soon as he noticed the pooled water, it rushed toward the fruit pile, growing in diameter as it got under the pile. Immediately, the startled bee was a few meters in the air. Through the middle of the pile, a small spring of water erupted out and began to form into a singular, anthropomorphic shape.

The spring reached Charmy's position in the sky and slowly the shape became clearer and clearer. The water being had piercing, indiscernible lime yellow eyes, like it had no soul. Its head was adorned with three tall spike-like appendages. It had no mouth, no nose and the freakiest thing was... Charmy could see the thing's brain...

"Wa-wa-wa-wa- WATER MONSTER!" he hollered before bolting in another direction; anywhere other than where that thing was. If he never took a bath again, it wouldn't be soon enough. But before he could really make tracks, a beam of light assaulted his vision before a loud "Hello!" sent his heart into overdrive and scared his wings stiff.

"HOLY CRUNCHY MONKEYS!" he screamed, blind and hurtling toward the ground. However, he didn't touch solid ground, he was caught by someone. Someone gentle, it felt like.

"Don't mind Chaos, he's harmless. Well, _now_ he's harmless" a peaceful voice said.

"Wh-wh-wh- who are you?! Where'd you come from?!" the young boy blinked his eyes feverishly, trying to make out where he was and who had him this time.

"Oh, forgive me. My name is Tikal. The water creature you saw earlier is my friend, Chaos"

"C-C- Chaos?"

"Yes, that's right! May I ask your name?" Tikal asked politely. Finally, Charmy's vision was returning. He was right at her eye level, her crystal blue eyes shined beautifully, surrounded by nectar orange fur, white wrappings hiding some of it from view. And an antique, golden tiara rested directly under her dreadlocks spines. The young insect was taken aback by her beauty for a moment before he realized she asked him his name.

"I'm Ch- Charmy"

"It is nice to meet you, Charmy" Tikal replied, giving a slight bow. It was then that Charmy noticed he wasn't physically being held by her. She was telekinetically holding him above the ground. _Freaky_ , he thought as he wriggled himself free of the invisible hold and flapped his wings to keep himself airborne.

"Are you really friends with that thing?" Charmy's face scrunched up just thinking about Chaos and its brain.

"Oh yes, we're good friends. Chaos is really very sweet and kind"

"Then why was he tryin' to get me when I was tryin' to eat some fruit?!" he motioned to the pile that Chaos was sitting on top of, emotionless and still.

"Oh that fruit isn't safe to eat without peeling! One must properly separate the poison skin before eating it!"

"Poison? So that water monster was... tryin' to save me?" Charmy looked back at the intimidating liquid creature as its legs became a puddle making it come down from the pile and stand on the ground.

"That's right. He wouldn't have disturbed you if you weren't in danger"

"Oh" was his sheepish reply. He avoided looking at Chaos directly, but faced its general direction. "Well thanks, I guess, Chaos" the creature nodded in response before coming to Tikal's side.

"Charmy, if you don't mind me asking, what brings such a young boy all the way up here? And on your own, no less" the gentle echidna remarked.

"I'm friends with Knuckles and I'm not alone. Vector 'n Espio are here too. We were waitin' on Knuckles to come get us since we don't know where the heck we're goin' "

Tikal lightly bopped the side of her head with her palm. "OH, THAT'S RIGHT! Knuckles wanted us to meet some more of his friends today! He should be on his way, he was making something for you all. A fruit sah-lad?"

"HE'S MAKING FRUIT SALAD?!" Charmy nearly exploded with excitement right then and there.

"That's how you pronounce it! Salad. _Salad_ " Tikal directed her words to Chaos, who did nothing but give her eye contact as she went on.

"What are we waitin' for? Let's go find him!" Charmy grabbed Tikal's hand and was about to break into a sprint until his colleagues appeared out of the brush.

"What're ya yellin' about over here-" Vector frozen on the spot when he saw Tikal, who simply lit up when she noticed him and Espio.

"Are you the Vector and Espio that Charmy has told me about?" she asked, her voice sweet and excited. Vector and Espio stared at her for a long time, finally looking at each other to confirm they weren't dreaming.

"You're... you're an echidna..." Espio managed to form.

"Why yes, I am! And you're a dragon!"

"I thought Knuckles was the only- did you just call me a dragon?" paused the confused chameleon.

"Espio's not a dragon, Tikal! Haven't ya seen a chameleon before?" Charmy corrected.

"Chameleon? No, I haven't! Oh I'm terribly sorry!"

Espio waved his hand, attempting to calm her down, "No no, it's fine. No need to apologize"

"How're ya here? The Echidnas were all wiped out, 'cept for Knuckles! How'd ya survive? And what the heck is that thing?!" continued Vector.

Tikal awkwardly rubbed her head, "This is Chaos, he's my friend and well, that's a long story, Mr. Dragon"

"Tell it, we've got plenty of ti- did you just call me a dragon?" paused the confused crocodile.

"Oh no! Are you a chameleon as well?"

"HA! HE WISHES! Bwahahahaha!" the young boy pointed and laughed in a most undignified way.

"CHARMY!" Vector screeched, a blush rising to his cheeks.

"What? It's true, isn't it?"

"NO!"

Charmy tilted his head to the side and squinted in disbelief, "... you sure?"

"That's it, ya lil' brat!"

"Yipe!" Charmy yelped and flew out of the furious Vector's reach. Espio simply watched his two companions do their typical song and dance. But suddenly-

"Boys! Boys! Do not harm each other! Violence is not the answer!" Tikal shouted, flying between the fuming reptile and the frantic arthropod, shocking them into halting their performance. The shinobi was in amazement, no one every really stopped Vector and Charmy when they went at it. No one really cared, they knew the outcome wouldn't be anything especially terrible. But this girl...

"Tikal, we weren't really gonna hurt each other" Charmy explained, nervous at the sudden shift in mood.

"Yeah, this is jus' what we do, darlin' " Vector shrugged. The adolescent echidna shook her head furiously, visibly rejecting Vector's reasoning. She stomped her sandal into the ground and inhaled for a full minute before bellowing out the words burning in her heart.

"That can no longer be! In this world, we have to live with each other. Only by understanding and respecting one another can we be harmonious and peaceful in or coexistence! If someone hurts you, then you take that rage and wrath to another, the cycle of pain continues! That vicious cycle cannot be ignored!"

"Well, yeah but-" Vector started, before Tikal continued right along.

"The cycle can only be broken if we want it to be! If we take charge of our destiny, right now, we can change the world! Through our fortitude of spirit and strength of heart, we can be an example to future generations!"

"Um, that's great and al-" Charmy tried, but Tikal powered over his voice.

"We can be a symbol for peace! A beacon of hope that screams, 'Hey! There IS a way to achieve world peace! We did it, so why can't you?!' What kind of world do we live in, where we just lose our minds over the slightest of infractions?! What kind of world have we created, where men trample over each other to achieve a status of false glory?!"

"Wh- a- maybe you should-" Espio attempted to say, while reaching for her shoulder. However, the orange mammal immediately whipped her arms around enthusiastically, smacking Espio across the cheek.

"True glory is the ability to keep peace! Within one's self and in one's environment! True glory is not measured by the size of your army, nor the amount of land you rule! But the impact you make on other's lives, there lies true glory! Never forget, never give in to darkness, never accept the world as it appears! You, each and every one of you, hold the key to changing the world for the better!"

"Tikal, we were just-"

"I will NOT lie down quietly and hold my tongue when there is so much injustice in the worl-!"

"Tikal!" a gruff, masculine voice yelled over Tikal's rambling, gaining everyone's attention. The voice's owner was none other than the rad red, fiercely powerful, guardian of Angel Island: Knuckles the Echidna. The Chaotix visibly deflated in relief at his arrival and more importantly, Tikal's sermon being cut short.

"Knuckles! Your friends are here!" said Tikal as she ran to Knuckles.

"Yeah, I see 'em. Hey guys" Knuckles leaned over and gave a small wave to the trio. "You were nagging 'em to death about peace, weren't you?" Knuckles said dryly as Tikal avoided eye contact and let out a wheeze of a laugh.

"Nagging? Whaaaaat? I don't- I don't nag... do I?" she sheepishly turned to the detective group, waiting for their answer. The older members of the group stammered, struggling to form their words just right.

"You certainly didn't... hold back when Vector and Charmy were rough-housing" Espio was the first to answer.

"Ya really... expressed yer self. For several minutes straight" Vector came in after. Both of them turned to Charmy, hoping he would read the atmosphere and respond tactfully-

"No, yeah. You're a nag"

"CHARMY!"

"She kinda is, you guys" he candidly explained, much to the reptiles's embarrassment. Upon hearing Charmy's answer, Tikal's face burned red and her gaze was averted to the ground. Her friend Chaos patted her on the back as she wallowed in embarrassment. Knuckles walked toward the Chaotix, a serving bowl with a lid in his hands.

"It's alright. She's not used to talking to people who aren't power hungry warmongers. Tikal's never really had a chance to let all of her feelings out before now. She's still getting used to life in a completely different time period" he explained as he motioned for them to follow him.

"Different time period? Does that mean Tikal is from-?" Espio started.

"Yeah, she's from the distant past. 4,000 years, right?" Knuckles glanced over at Tikal, her blush still present as she nodded in response.

"Fascinating... how did you get to this time?" the ninja asked.

"The Master Emerald. Chaos and I were sealed inside of it until just a few days ago"

"Jeez, what lousy timin'. That was when that enormous water monster destroyed Station Square, right? What're the odds you n' Chaos appeared around the same time?" the emerald scaled man thought aloud.

"Woah, guys! Chaos is a water monster too! What a coincidence that Chaos and that huge water monster were around at the same time!" Charmy added. Knuckles, Tikal, and Chaos exchanged nervous looks before Knuckles sighed.

"Uh guys, Chaos WAS that giant water monster who destroyed Station Square"

"WHAAAAAT?!"

* * *

 _So Tikal is still alive. The proof is the ending picture of her and Chaos on Angel Island. She and him are together and where ever he goes, she goes. So since we know that Chaos isn't dead, she can't be either. Plus, if she was dead or a ghost or whatever, the spell she cast on Chaos when he killed the Echidna tribe wouldn't have worked. If you snapped Harry Potter's neck before he finished speaking an incantation, the spell wouldn't happen. So the fact that Chaos was sealed in the Master Emerald along with her is proof that she is still alive. And let's not forget that Knuckles used the same exact prayer or spell in Adventure 2 and HE'S still alive. So no, Tikal is alive and well. SEGA just doesn't like using the full cast, that's why people thinks she's dead. But she's not._


	12. Charmy and the Intern 1-3

**_Did you guys miss me as much as I missed you? Because I really missed you guys. ^^ Things have been crazy, obviously. Crazy like, going to the hospital at 10pm and leaving at 4am crazy. But everything's good now (thanks for your continued support :D) and I finally have time to work on my favorite fanfiction. C: I'm planning on squeezing in as many chapters as I can before school starts so, get ready for some chapter dumps! Enjoy, everybody!_**

* * *

"VECTOR, WHERE ARE THE WC'S?!" Espio asked behind various large stacks of papers, his patience worn thin.

"WHAT THE HECK DO YA NEED OUR WC'S FOR?! I THOUGHT THAT'S WHY WE GOT ALL DEM RECIEPTS!" Vector responded back from his closet upstairs, as he typed on a 30 year old, barely functioning calculator. The numbers he crunched seemed to be crunching him at that point.

"How many times must I explain this?!" Espio said to himself, the words steaming as they left his gritted teeth. "RECEIPTS AREN'T FOR TAXES, THEY'RE FOR AUDITS! WHICH IS WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO US, IF YOU DON'T GET ME THE WC'S AND THE YMC'S AND THE FCC'S!" Espio shouted back, one of the haphazard stacks of white toppling over as he listed the documents.

Vector flitted through several medical records for the Chaotix as he growled lowly. "ESPIO, I ALREADY GAVE YOU THE FCC'S AND YMC'S! THEY'RE IN THE PINK FOLDER! AND WHEN YER SELF EMPLOYED, YOU DO NEED RECEIPTS FOR TAXES!" he roared in a deep, tired voice.

Espio shifted through the remaining stacks of documents on the floor and found a bold pink folder. The normally calm ninja grunted in frustration when he opened the folder. "IT'S A STRAWBERRY COLORED FOLDER AND YOU GOT THEM FROM THE WRONG YEAR!" he yelled, flinging the folder like a shuriken across the living room, where Charmy was laying down, making innocuous doodles on one of the many sheets of paper covering the floor. The little tyke was in his own world, as usual when Espio and Vector were doing grown up business.

"STRAWBERRY, PINK, WHATEVA- WHERE'S FORM 1099?! DAT ONE LOOKS PRETTY EASY TA FILL OUT!" the muscular reptile upstairs shouted back. He had his checklist of the documents required to file taxes, which he thought would make the whole process easier. Vector could punch himself for being so naïve.

"I DON'T KNOW! I THOUGHT THE FORMS ONLY WENT UP TO 1040! WHAT'S FORM 1099?!" Espio called back, crawling along the floor searching for one of the many things he needed but couldn't locate in the sheer volume of white littering the floorboards.

"ESPIO, FIND IT! SERIOUSLY, AT DIS RATE WE AIN'T GONNA GET ANYTHIN' DONE!" Vector bellowed, before rushing to the hallway and looking through a shoe box for a Social Security Card. Espio's continued search for the items he desperately desired were driving him insane. And as if on cue, the blissfully ignorant Charmy skipped over to Espio and averted his attention.

Charmy grinned wide and dramatically revealed his doodles to the chameleon's face. "Espio look at my drawing! It's us!" Espio scanned the drawing, unsure how the crude scribbles could represent any of them. A stumpy finger poked at the middle of the page. "See, that's me with a flamethrower" the finger trailed to the left to a magenta blob "And that's you with the lightning bolts!" finally, it landed on the right to a massive green shape "And that's Vector with the stink lines! Bwahahaha!" Charmy chortled innocently, causing Espio to huff impatiently.

"Little one, that's great, but please, we have to finish these taxes before Monday or..." the exasperated reptile trailed off when he noticed the sunlight hitting the drawing. It allowed him to see through to the other side of the paper, which had words and boxes typed on it. "What did you draw on?" he asked with a foreboding tone.

"I don't know, there's paper everywhere, so I just took some and started drawing on it" Charmy shrugged. A trained, swift hand seized the paper from the young bee's grasp and flipped the paper, revealing it's true origin.

"This is one of the WC's I've been looking for! CHARMY!" chastised the irritated shinobi.

"KID, WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Vector chimed in from the top of the stairs, fussing more than asking.

The small insect raised his hands defensively, "It was blank, I thought it would be okay!"

"IT WAS BLANK?! WHY WAS IT BLANK?!" Espio screamed.

"OH GOD, WHAT NOW?!" the enormous detective groaned.

"THE WC'S ARE BLANK!" his companion snapped as he nearly crumpled the useless paper in his fist. A loud slam resonated from upstairs, shaking the ceiling for a moment.

"YA GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME!" the irritated giant bemoaned. Charmy freed his drawing from Espio's grip while pinning the chameleon with a look of offended anger. But Espio hadn't noticed.

"NOW WE HAVE TO GO ALL THE WAY INTO TOWN, GO TO THE BANK, AND HOPE THAT THE LINE IS SHORT ENOUGH FOR US TO GET THESE FILLED OUT!"

"WHY DON'T WE JUS' DO IT ONLINE!?"

"DID YOU FORGET WE COULDN'T PAY THE INTERNET COMPANY LAST MONTH?! WE HAVEN'T HAD INTERNET IN TWO DAYS!"

"Guys, why don't you just go to each other and talk at a normal volume?" offered the small honeybee, who held his crayons between his fingers and proceeded to slash the air playfully.

" 'CUZ WE'RE TRYIN-!" the scaly colossus started, but realized just how tired he was of yelling. Solid stomps thumped down the stairs, papers flying everywhere as the bulky leader came into view. Several boxes were struggling to stay stacked in his arms as he went, which is where all the papers were coming from, adding to the alarming number of documents that were rapidly becoming a part of the floor.

"Cuz we're tryin' ta get," Vector crudely plopped the boxes on the floor with a loud thud, "these stupid taxes done 'n one of us needed ta be upstairs gettin' all the papers that ain't down here already"

"While the other takes all the papers and tries to make sense of all of it. But there's percentages and fractions we have to calculate" Espio added, rubbing his temples. The stress of this ordeal was brewing quite the headache.

"Not ta mention inflation 'n systematic probabilities" Vector reminded him, folding his massive arms and squeezing his eyes shut. His head was starting to throb as well.

"And we can't forget to weigh every-"

"GUYS!"

Espio and Vector stopped their train of stress mid-sentence and look down at the small insect between them. Charmy's round nose scrunched in confusion, raising the corner of his lip, like a coat on a rack. His eyes squinted in bewilderment. "What are taxes?"

Both reptiles simply deflated at the question, nearly falling to the floor from hunching their shoulders so low. The green adult placed a large hand on his forehead and slowly wiped down, stretching his features lazily. "Jus'... don't worry about it, squirt." His hand drooped off his snout, slightly springing his face up and down, before resting back to normal. "Let us handle it, you go play outside" he waved toward the door with his other hand.

"Are ya sure you guys can handle it? I mean, ya look terrible" Charmy tilted his head as he studied his guardians' faces. Espio's horn, which Charmy assumed was unmovable, was clearly drooping downward. There were deep purple bags under his eyes and it seemed like one eye was half open while the other blinked in slow motion independently from the other. His mouth refused to close and was formed into a horrified gasp.

Vector looked even worse, he had wrinkles all across his forehead and on his snout. His long mouth had also decided to remain open without the crocodile's consent, one corner of his lip seemed to be dragging the rest of his face down. His normally bright, golden eyes were diluted with redness seeping from the corners and his eyelids looked heavier than their refrigerator. Clearly, it was taking all of his strength to not close them and fall asleep on the spot. They definitely looked rough, almost as if they'd just run around the world in one day.

"Child, we are in the best condition to complete our state taxes" defied Espio, nearly falling over after he spoke. Vector's bloodshot eyes shot open.

"State?! Espio, we're supposed to be doing our federal taxes! Now we gotta start all over!" he said, horrified. Espio stared into space, his eyes squinting slowly in irritation. He inhaled a deep breath and nodded his head at nothing in particular. Finally, he exhaled.

"... I'm going to murder someone" he said calmly. Charmy knew his judgement was correct, they were running themselves ragged.

"Okay, you guys need a break" he commanded firmly.

"We only got today 'n tomorrow ta get dis done, kid! We ain't got time fer breaks! In fact, les' go to the bank right now, before they close!" Vector perked up, his third second wind energizing him.

"But what about dinner?" the worried arthropod asked as Espio followed Vector toward the front door.

"You can eat a pop-tart on the way, let's go!" hurried Espio, taking the shoe box with the Social Security Cards under his arm.

"What're you guys gonna eat?" Charmy meekly asked.

"AIR! NOW COME ON!" Vector shouted, his impatience clear as he flung the door open. Charmy stared between the two frazzled adults in quietness, his lips folding into a tight line.

"... I gotta pee" he sheepishly announced.

"UGH! JUST STAY HOME THEN, WE'LL BE BACK!" barked the livid croc as he stomped out the door.

"What's the point, Vector?" Espio tiredly asked, tossing the shoe box back to the paper littered floor "It took us all week to get where we were and now we're back to square one! And as much as I'd like to admit otherwise, I have no idea what I'm doing with the paperwork. There is no way we can finish our taxes on time" the candid warrior declared, defeat shrouded on his face. He slumped to his knees, content to just pass out in that position.

Vector slammed the door close, trying to fight the inevitable. "But, we-! I mean, we gotta-! We can't just skip out on it!" his palms stretched desperately toward the resigned chameleon. "We did that last year-! And we nearly got-! Thank God for Rouge because-!" the memory of asking the deceptive bat for assistance and the high cost it took for her to make their problem go away that year rushed through the man's mind. All he could hear is himself vowing before every god in existence that he would never ask for her help again. The price was too high. "RRRAGH! We're not gonna finish!" he admitted gruffly as he slumped to his knees.

"Can't ya just... copy off someone else's taxes?" Charmy asked innocently, his ignorance too much for either of the detectives to deal with right then.

"Charmy," Espio stated patiently.

"Huh?"

"Go to the bathroom,"

"Okay!" the child bubbled, remembering his need at Espio's command. He quickly bounced down the hall to the downstairs bathroom and slammed the door, leaving Espio and Vector to collapse totally on the wooden floor hidden beneath a sea of documents. The exhausted mulberry warrior laid on his back, his eyes closed as soon as his head met the floor. His larger, emerald companion laid on his stomach, his anger dissipating rapidly as the floor felt more and more comfortable.

Vector allowed his thoughts to drift, thinking he was about to fall asleep in a matter of minutes. This situation was the crocodile's worst nightmare, taxes; what a _brilliant_ concept. There had to be a better way to do this, there had to be. If only what the kid said was legal, they'd be in the clear. Let somebody else do all of this hardwork and get all the ulcers and headaches, him and his boys wouldn't have to worry about taxes anymore! Unfortunately, Vector knew how the real world worked. You can't just let someone else do all of the work and not pay them some astronomical amount of money.

"... wait," Vector whispered, a small ember of an idea blossoming in his mind. "Wait... wait a minute!" he exclaimed as that ember grew into a roaring fire. "That's it! THAT'S IT!" he shot up from the ground, going airborne from the strength he pushed himself with, and landed on his feet.

"What is it, Vector?" the still sprawled out Espio asked.

"I jus' got da best idea ever!"

"What's your id-?"

"I got it handled now! Where'd da phone go?" he spun on his heels erratically, until finally seeing their ancient desk phone, complete with a cord. Vector leaped to the device and swiftly dialed some numbers, before moving his headphones over and raising the phone to the side of his head. The ringing ended fairly quickly as a voice came through.

"Yo, Big Louie! Hey, how's it hangin'? Listen, your kid's still in college, right?"

"Vector, who is-?"

"Okay good! Ya see, I got dis internship thing goin' on at the agency... Detective Agency, Lou, c'mon, ya forgot what I do for a livin'?" Vector was too engrossed in his conversation to hear Espio, who was now sitting up and looking at Vector's curious behavior.

"Who's Vector talkin' to?" Charmy asked as he floated to Espio's side, a juice box in his hands.

"Apparently someone named Louie who is large in appearance" said the ninja, without hiding his confusion.

"Oh Big Louie! Tell him I said hi, Boss!" called the excited toddler. Vector paused for a moment and smiled slightly.

"Dat was the kid, he says hi... Charmy, whadda ya mean, 'What kid'? I remember your kid, but you can't remember mine? Jeez, Lou, what's the matta with ya today?" the crocodile couldn't hide the heat in his voice. Espio turned in shock to the smiling child to his side.

"You know this Big Louie fellow?"

"Yeah, he came over a couple times" Charmy said casually.

"And why am I just now hearing about this?" the shinobi asked like an upset parent.

"Vector said not to tell ya, said you'd freak out or sumthin' "

Espio visibly got indignantly offended by the comment. "I do not freak out when company comes over, I just like to know who plans to enter my home before they get here so I can decide whether to let them in or deny them entrance" he explained matter-of-factly.

"Aaaaand that's why we didn't tell ya," Charmy said flatly between sucking on his straw. The magenta young man opened his mouth to protest again, but after a moment realized he would only be fueling the fire and resigned to pout bitterly instead. Finally, Vector seemed to be winding down his conversation, so Espio stood up and halted his pouting in lieu of getting an explanation of Vector's plan.

"Alright, Big Louie, send junior over ASAP. Thanks, bud. See ya 'round," the towering sleuth hung up the phone and triumphantly turned to his subordinates.

"Would you mind filling us in on this plan of yours, Vector?"

"You'll see when he gets here," Vector replied, a knowing grin plastered on his face.

"Big Louie is coming over here? Again, apparently?" Espio asked, barely hiding his vexation of the situation.

"Oh relax, Espio. I'm taking care of everything. Can you get all these papers up and put 'em in boxes? It'll make it easier for the kid"

"I don't care about all this junk, just as long as I don't have to clean it up!" chirped the small arthropod innocuously.

"Not you, kid, the other kid. Louie's kid, Lil' Louie,"

"How is he going to help us?" asked the magenta scaled young man.

"Ya ever been ta college, Espio?" Vector asked, surprising Espio.

"No, of course not, you know that"

"Then ya wouldn't know-"

"Vector, ya didn't ask me if I ever went to college!" Charmy poked in suddenly, making the burly croc chuckle.

"Why would I ask you? Munchkins ain't allowed ta go ta college" Vector jested, then blocked Charmy's playful attacks as he continued. "Anyway, there's this nifty lil' thing called, 'college credit internships'..."

After sweeping the entire agency and placing each document into a cardboard box, there was a knock on the Chaotix's front door. Charmy made his way to the door, as he always did when there was someone coming over, and reached for the doorknob. But large, sturdy hands stopped him in his tracks and gently moved him aside. Vector yanked the door open and bellowed out a greeting before Charmy could get a word out.

"Welcome, welcome! Good ta see ya, Lil' Louie! C'mon in, c'mon in!" Vector smiled, almost patronizing the young man who stood just inches from the threshold. The giant crocodile gingerly grabbed the man's shoulders and nearly threw him into the foyer. Vector conveniently blocked Charmy's view of the guest, which irritated the curious bee to no end. He'd seen Big Louie and ever since Vector told him that Lil' Louie was coming over, his head was bubbling over with joyous imaginations of how he'd look.

Maybe he would look like a pirate, with an eyepatch and a peg-leg. With a sword hidden in it! And maybe he'd have a Pirate Captain's hat, which Charmy would beg to wear. Or perhaps he would be a cyborg from the future, with cool robot legs and arms and a jet pack and lights everywhere on his body! Charmy could ask him to take him to the moon and this time he'd get there! Or maybe he was a rock and roll star, with guitars and speakers and a cool jacket. And maybe if Charmy asked him really nicely, he would let Charmy on stage during his next concert! The possibilities were endless and the anticipation was unbearable.

Yet, Vector continued to obstruct his view as he hovered all around the guy, better than the perpetually flying Charmy hovered. Vector talked to Lil' Louie in a uncharacteristically bubbly tone, as if he was a waitress addressing a big tipper. He would ask him what year he was in, what he was studying, what his favorite drink was; fru-fru stuff! Charmy huffed in exasperation before pulling Vector's gold chain to the side, leading the crocodile away from the mysterious Lil' Louie.

And it was then that Charmy knew what disappointment truly felt like. Lil' Louie was a lanky, yet pudgy bellied desert rat. His glasses were thin and didn't seem to have lenses in them, while his shirt was a tacky beige, complete with a mustard yellow striped tie that hung lazily from his inner shoulders. Perhaps that wouldn't have been so terrible, if his oily hair wasn't drooping "stylishly" over the left side of his face. Lil' Louie's face was wide and awkward, it seemed like his forehead and cheekbones were pushing all of his features toward each other. And to top it all off, he wore tattered, black fingerless gloves along with several wristbands that didn't match anything else on him, clearly women's boots and multiple belts, despite the fact that he lacked pants.

Yup. Definitely the most disappointing image Charmy had ever seen. Lil' Louie looked up at the bewildered Charmy that somehow couldn't help but stare at the college student's... striking appearance. The teal rat simply rolled his eyes and sat down at the dining room table, where all the paper-filled boxes had been gathered.

Espio materialized with a tray of steaming tea, approaching the other end of the table. "Hello, Little Louie, my name is-"

"Okay, everybody, stop calling me Lil' Louie! My dumb dad has been calling me that since I was a kid and I'm not taking it anymore! As you can see, I'm an adult! So treat me like one by using my approved nicknames: 'Loose Here', 'Lovely Louis', 'Lou-isn't', or 'Lou-easy like Sunday morning!' Call me anything else and you're on your own!"

The Chaotix froze at the college student's explosive words. None of them knew what was going on and none of them felt the least bit comfortable. Within a minute, Lil' Louie had stolen the welcoming mood and replaced it with an awkward silence. The detectives slowly looked between each other, almost telepathically asking each other how to proceed with their peculiar guest. Espio finally resigned to continue introducing himself.

"Well, I am Espio and here is some tea. Let us know if you need anything else... Lou-isn't" he grunted out, the taste of the nickname leaving his mouth made him shudder in disgust.

"Thank you, Espio" Lil' Louie responded pleasantly as he took the tea cup from the chameleon. He took a sip, moaned at the remarkable taste, and gingerly took a longer sip. Vector was the next to get back in the fray.

"Alright kid, ya know our situation... can ya help us out?" Lil' Louie stared at the Chaotix standing before him, his eyes scanning them and registering harsh judgements as he continued to drink Espio's tea. After a moment of stifling silence, the elitist man put the empty cup on the table and folded his hands in front of them.

"Normally I wouldn't help you, considering the severity of your situation. But since I need college credit, I will do your taxes. But, this is only going to work if you all do exactly what I say" Lil' Louie glared between the three guys, asserting an unwelcomed authority over them. Charmy noticed this and was immediately done with the disappointing son of Big Louie. He began flying toward the couch to watch tv while the grown ups handled-

"The Chaotix are at yer service, right boys?" Vector asked expectantly, making Charmy clear his throat in surprise.

"Uh actually, Dyno Bots are comin' on soo-"

"Whaddya need us ta do, Loose Here?" the burly crocodile asked Lil' Louie, disregarding Charmy's desire to leave, making the yellow striped child grab for his tail in order to get his attention. But as he did, Lil' Louie went into full commander mode.

"First and foremost, you must go to the bank and get the WC's filled out. If you hurry now, you'll be just in time to make it at the end of the line. Don't come back without those documents, Mr. Vector"

"Got it!" was Vector's gung-ho response

"Espio, I need you with me to answer some questions that you all most likely haven't filled out yet. And keep the tea coming because it's delicious" Lil' Louie commanded as he pointed his empty cup at Espio.

"I... will assist you how ever I can" Espio tentatively answered and tipped the teapot to fill the man's cup.

"And child:"

"Huh?" groaned Charmy.

"You need to find every receipt you can from this year and last year. Check everywhere for them"

"Wait, I thought Espio said we didn't need receipts"

"Does Espio have straight A's in all his college Accounting classes?" asked Lil' Louie, crudely imitating Charmy's high pitched voice.

"Wha- huh?"

"Didn't think so. Do as I say, boy. Time is of the essence and I don't enjoy repeating myself" the rude rat stated, before taking some papers out of one of the boxes. Charmy felt his fists tightening and a growl rising in his gut as he stared daggers at the annoying stranger. He was sure he could beat the scrawny man to a pulp in under a minute and just as he was about to prove it, the sound of the front door swinging opening caught his attention.

"Charmy, be a good boy 'n do what da intern says, okay?" Vector instructed before bolting out of the door.

"But... haaaa..." the words died in his throat after he realized Vector was long gone. So Charmy simply sighed to himself. "Alright, Boss".

Lil' Louie took control of the small detective agency and from the time he got there to breakfast time the next morning he worked the detectives like slaves. Vector had gone into town for so many things, he'd opted to just stay in the city until Lil' Louie was completely finished with their taxes. Neither Charmy nor Espio were in contact with him for the duration of this all-nighter, despite Vector's desire to speak to his teammates when Lil' Louie called him repeatedly.

Espio's tea was all gone by the end of it and he hadn't been able to go anywhere in the building besides the bathroom. And even then, Lil' Louie would just kick the door open when he needed information from Espio, despite the fact that the same information he inquired about was already provided by Espio 20 times over. Lil' Louie refused to acknowledge that he'd forgotten the information and threatened to leave if Espio questioned his memory again.

And Charmy, he got the worst punishment. He had already found all of the receipts in the house after an hour of meticulous searching, but when he presented his findings to Lil' Louie, he didn't get the response he thought he'd get.

"Brat, what is this?! There's only 12 receipts here! That can't be everything!" the blue-green terror shouted. He flung the receipts into the air in unnecessary anger.

"Well it IS everything, so I don't know what ta tell ya, Lil-"

"Unacceptable!" the fuming college student shrieked. "You just didn't look everywhere because you're an ADHD infant! Go check everywhere, and this time, do your job!" he pointed his arm back upstairs, where most of the receipts were hidden. But Charmy merely looked at the ridiculous motions with a raised brow and an unfazed attitude.

"What's the point in searching the house all over again, when I already got all the receipts the first time? That sounds dumb" he said candidly. The unseemly lanky man sputtered and gasped in response to the youth's defiance. He gritted his awkward shaped teeth into a firm scowl, that only increased his hideousness.

"Brat, you will do as I say! Don't you want your taxes done on time?!"

"I personally don't really care-"

"Then act like it and find the rest of the receipts NOW!" Lil' Louie screeched, his volume and shrill tone making both Espio and Charmy wince slightly.

"Ya don't like listenin', do ya? I said I looked everywhere, that's all we had. Who keeps a whole mess of receipts anyway? Probably weirdos"

"I keep every receipt I've ever received in my fanny pack! It's the sensible thing to do!" Lil' Louie stood up, revealing a fanny pack he's been wearing the whole time. It was the same material and color as his various unnecessary belts, which is why no one noticed it before then.

Again, Charmy just stared up at the outlandish boy, an annoyed question on his face. "Yeah, sensible for weirdos, like you"

"What was that?!"

" _KO_!" Espio chided quickly. Both of the teammates exchanged a dozen looks in a few seconds, having a whole conversation without saying a word. Once they're discussion was over, the small arthropod threw on a dejected expression and groaned in exhaustion. He turned his attention back to the smug, ugly face of Lil' Louie.

"Fiiiiine, I'll look even harder this time" he said, trying to hide his seething hatred behind a fake smile and fluttering his eyes. Charmy flew back upstairs as quickly as he could and slammed his bedroom door. He sat on his bed and played with action figures, the one getting beaten up by all his other toys just happened to look a lot like the aberrant Lil' Louie.

Once he'd gone through his entire collection of toys and given every one a turn at beating up his Lil' Louie stand in, it was about 3 hours later. The chubby faced toddler would have preferred to stay hidden in his room until the dumb weirdo had gone home, but he knew if he didn't return downstairs, Lil' Louie would just barge into his room like he owned the place and annoy him there. He rolled his wide eyes and huffed violently at the very notion of the abnormal jerk entering his privacy, Charmy begrudgingly opened his door and returned downstairs to Lil' Louie.

"Well?" the college student asked crossing his arms expectantly. Charmy shrugged his shoulders dryly.

"Well, what? There's no more receipts, like I said before"

"... you are really trying my patience, bee" Lil' Louie said, massaging his temples. Charmy laughed forcefully at the man's statement.

"I did what you told me to do, ya said I didn't and yelled at me, I did what you said again, you're still yelling at me, and YOUR patience is being tested?" the furious insect flew directly in the sweaty irritating man's face. "Buddy, I'm this close to-"

" _KOZO_!" Espio once again shouted, freezing his young companion mid-sentence. Charmy closed his eyes tightly and tried to get ahold of himself before the disciplined ninja did it for him.

"Thank you, Espio" Lil' Louie said, as if Espio worked for him now. He turned to sneer into Charmy's face and brought up his hand. "Because I was this close to leaving you all on your own" Charmy peeked his eyes open and looked at Espio, who looked incredibly concerned. The look on Espio's face made guilt a physical force, that was now pressing on Charmy's heart. He knew he wasn't making this any easier for him and if Vector was here, he'd already have several tail smacks across his bottom. He opened his mouth to apologize, not to the chump who thought he was in control, but to Espio. But the words just couldn't come up. The chameleon would be devastated if Lil' Louie stopped before he finished and abandoned them. And that would devastate Charmy if it was his fault that Espio and Vector were hurt.

"Brat, you've earned a special new job" the croaking voice of the scrawny buttface brought Charmy back to reality. A new job actually sounded good, especially if it meant he would actually be doing something far away from Lil' Louie. He couldn't help but brighten up a little.

"You get to hand wash and wax my car parked outside" Lil' Louie said, a sinister smile on his face. Charmy's face deflated at the sentence. Espio recognized this cruelty for what it was and spoke up.

"Don't you think that's harsh for the little one to-"

"Either he does it or I walk" shrugged the teal rat, which made Espio clamp his mouth close. Again, he and Charmy engaged in a nearly telepathic conversation of facial expressions and eye contact.

Young Charmy knew that doing these taxes must have been important, otherwise Vector wouldn't have been so eager to follow the teal furred jerk's orders. Plus, Espio was doing his part too, despite him not knowing Big Louie let alone this dork. They both needed that guy to help them take care of their grown up business. No matter how badly he deserved a nice, long butt whooping, he was their only hope. And Charmy just couldn't sabotage their last chance at finishing this.

"No no no! I'm gonna do it, just do the taxes! I'll do it..." he said, defeated. The innocent boy knew there was only one way they were going to make it out of this: he had to bite the bullet and do what the intern said.

"That's a good boy. I want Harold to shine when you're through" Lil' Louie admonished before returning to his work. But Charmy paused his respectable sacrifice for just a second.

"... Harold?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, that's my car's name" innocently responded Lil' Louie. Espio stared at the back of the young man's head, a puzzled beyond reason look on his face. His eyes darted between Lil Louie and Charmy, who's mouth was agape in tumult confusion. Not for the first time that day, an awkward silence enveloped the Chaotix members because of their off-putting guest. It was prolonged for a moment before Charmy found his voice.

"... you NAMED a CAR? AND YOU NAMED IT HAROLD?" he asked, barely keeping his sanity together.

"That's right, what of it?" the slightly self-conscious rodent asked. Charmy looked to Espio once again, who was also holding back his gags at the incredibly ridiculous information they were receiving. But Charmy knew he had to deal with his new job, and the sooner the better, so he slumped his shoulders and gritted his teeth.

"Nothin'... I'll get the cleanin' stuff for..." the uncomfortable bee gaged silently. " _Harold_ " Charmy floated to the kitchen, retrieved the necessary supplies, and headed outside, sighing all the way. The yellow striped boy looked out at the grassy landscape that surrounded his home, looking for an automobile. Named Harold, of all names. Charmy's little face contorted at the cringy-ness of it all. Diligently, he searched for the vast land he called his front yard, but he had yet to see it.

So Charmy circled their house, widening his search for a vehicle of some kind to reveal itself. But he couldn't widen it by much, considering the dense woods behind their small backyard garden blocking any automobile access. But Charmy had no idea where else the car could be so he looked. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't there either. And just like that, Charmy ran out of places to look. Harold was invisible apparently.

But before Charmy went back inside, he noticed a strange tree stump in the distance, down a hill. Upon further inspection, he realized that it wasn't a tree stump, it was different in color than the other trees that grew outside. It had a rust color to it and it captured the light differently that wood did. Charmy flew down to it and as he got closer he could make out clear, blocky forms on it.

Horrified, Charmy recoiled in disgust. He was staring at Harold and it looked like it just came from the junkyard. How the rusted heap managed to make it to the Chaotix's home was the greatest mystery the bee could ever think of. Its windows were dustier than a museum's, its headlights were busted out, its hood seemed to be missing altogether, exposing the inner workings of the vehicle to the elements. The doors had wood panels that were fading away and a muffler dragging on the ground, which kicked up piles dirt into the underbelly of the car. It was nothing short of disgusting to look at.

"I gotta wash and wax THIS?!" Charmy shouted, completely distraught. That was the last straw. Charmy vowed then and there that a great injustice had been brought on him. And no matter the cost, as soon as the taxes were finished, vengeance would be his...

* * *

 _ **This may or may not be based on recent, real life events that happened during my absence. -_-U**_

 _ **Big Louie and Lil' Louie are different interpretations of the Big Louie and Small Louie Vector mentioned in Sonic Free Riders. It was a throwaway joke in a throwaway game, so I thought hey, why not spin it to benefit a Charmy Nonsense 3 parter? (This is gonna be a 3 parter, btw. Y'all deserve a silly multi-chapter story for once ;D)**_

 _ **Lil' Louie's design is based off of that nerdy villain Charlie from Sonic Boom. I just added some hipster cringe to his wardrobe. XDDDD See ya next chapter, Charmy's Revenge! ^v^**_


	13. Charmy and the Intern 2-3

**_All the pranks are from one of my favorite childhood books, Captain Underpants! George and Harold are my spirit guides and they have never steered me wrong! XDDD Enjoy!_**

* * *

An all nighter. Charmy had to pull an all nighter, outside, washing Lil' Louie's rusty, crust box of a car. His hands were sore and calloused like he'd just dug a ditch, his tiny arms were like wet noodles hanging from his shoulders, and he swore he'd never get the smell of car wax out of his nose. The sun rose just as he finished polishing Harold's hubcaps. Or rather, the spot where the hub caps would be if Harold had them.

Exhausted wings carried little Charmy up to his bedroom window, just as he entered the colorful mess of a room, his strength left him and he dropped face first on his bed. The young bee's body lightly bounced atop the springy cushion, before the warm embrace of sleep cuddled him unconscious.

A wild grin split Charmy's blanket buried face as he let his mind wander. His mischievous imagination overflowed with incredible ideas, just begging to be tried. All the pranks he'd played before would be nothing compared to what he had in store for that pushy, bratty, skeleton-looking jerkbutt. Blissfully, Charmy dreamed of his plans for the Chaotix's new intern.

A couple hours later, shrill cackling erupted from beyond Charmy's bedroom door, waking him with a slight start. He immediately recognized the grating voice as Lil' Louie's, who had no doubt seized control of the tv and was watching some documentary. The laughter most likely meant that the teal rat was rigorously arguing with the facts the people on the documentary was sharing.

"Which means I have lots of time ta get everything ready, mwahahaha!" chortled the sinister toddler. He rose from his bed and floated to his closet on the other side of his room. Charmy flung the sliding door open and reached for the top shelf, where a collection of random items loitered in his view. He parted the junk pile with his arms, opening a small space where he could see the back wall of the closet and something hidden between the wall and the junk. It was a small treasure chest, about half Charmy's size, neat and polished unlike literally everything else in his room.

Carefully, Charmy pulled the box from its hiding place and slid the closet door shut with his foot, before laying the chest on his messy bedroom floor. With a quick stab of his stinger and a twist, the lock on the chest clicked and the lid cracked open just enough for Charmy's little fingers to slide into the space and lift it completely. Its contents made Charmy's grin twirl into a devilish smile.

In that hidden treasure chest was a collection, or more accurately, an arsenal of prank paraphernalia. Whoopie cushions, sea monkeys, packets of salt and pepper labeled as sugar, fake blood capsules, rubber chickens, and anything else a young prankster could dream of. It was truly a sight to see and Charmy was immensely proud of himself for attaining this sweet stash. It took him so many long months to acquire this much ammunition and today, all that hardwork was going to payoff.

Menacingly, the small bee boy rubbed his hands together and giggled to himself. "Alright, my sweet babies", he said as his hands dived into the chest. "It's showtime..."

* * *

"Well that was a riot! Those people clearly didn't do any research before making that shameful display!" Lil' Louie said with contempt as he shut the television off. He continued mumbling about how he'd never get those 3 hours back he wasted on the movie, as he made his way into the kitchen where Espio was cleaning up the mess from yesterday.

"What do you scrubs have to eat around here? And it better be vegan and gluten free, or I'm gonna lose it!" the desert rat complained, flinging open the refrigerator door and peering inside. Before Espio could struggle to come up with an answer Charmy materialized right behind the skinny man.

"Why don'tcha let me find something for ya ta eat, Louie ol' pal?" the child asked sweetly. Lil' Louie yelped and nearly jumped through the ceiling at Charmy's sudden appearance.

"Brat!" he squeaked before clearing his throat and lowering his voice an octave. "Don't sneak up on me like that! I was just about to yell for you to find something edible in this hut". Charmy closed the refrigerator and motioned to the couch, a smile hanging from his cheeks.

"It would be myyyyy pleasure to find some free gluten and some Vatican food, so why don'tcha sit on our nice, fluffy couch and wait for me?" suggested the yellow striped boy. An approving grunt was Lil' Louie's response as he walked back to the living room.

"Well, it seems that long night with Harold straightened you out. Good, you were a real delinquent before" Lil' Louie said, just before he sat on the worn cushion of the couch. As soon as all of his weight pressed into it, a cloud of dust billowed out of the cushions, enveloping the lanky rodent.

"Anyway, hurry up an- AH-CHOO!" a massive, unexpected sneeze erupted from the college student's mouth. A quick swipe across his lightly dripping nose with his forearm cleared the tickling sensation in his nose-

"HaaaaAH-CHOO!" but only for half a second. A merciless string of sneezes had the already sickly looking Lil Louie curling in on himself. Espio and Vector slowly looked toward the suffering desert rat as his sneezes became so visceral, his knobby knees shot up to his face as the sneezing fit went on.

"AH-CHOO-OUCH! AH-CHOO-YEEOW! AH-CHOO-KUH!" Lil Louie eventually buckled down to the floor, on his hands and knees. "WHY IS-CHOO! AHHH!" his body was now hopping in the air with every sneeze. "THIS HAP-AH-CHOO! WOAAAH! HAPPENING?!" The snot dripping rodent tried crawling to the bathroom, but before he could make it out of the living room, "AH-CHOO, AH-CHOO, AH-CHOOOOOO!" he sneezed so hard he lost his balance and went careening into the wall.

It was quite the display, Charmy had to pat himself on the back as he watched from outside the house, laughing his stinger off. Vector stomped to the bathroom and checked up on Lil' Louie from beyond the door, while Espio just stared at the couch in confusion. Charmy ducked out of view and snickered to himself.

"This is gonna be soooooooo fun..." he squeaked before flying toward the city to buy a bunch of gluten with Lil' Louie's wallet.

* * *

When Charmy returned, literal bags of gluten in his hands, the petulant young man had fully recovered, but not without a lump on his forehead. The sight of the miserable pout on his pubescent, awkward face lit up Charmy's face with a knowing smile. Charmy flung the bag at Vector, who caught it with one hand and walked to the kitchen.

"What took you so long?!" Lil' Louie screamed.

"Sorry, Louie. The lines were pretty long. But I got a ton of gluten just like you asked... say what's wrong with your hair?" Charmy asked as he floated directly above Lil' Louie's head.

"What are you babbling about? My hair is fine!" the teal rat snapped back, reflexively shielding his hair from view. Charmy pulled back and hummed loudly, sticking his poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue and maintaining eye contact.

"I don't know, it's looking a bit too mainstream if ya ask me" The yellow striped boy just happened to have a magazine of Men's Fashion in his hands as he floated in front of Lil Louie. A very handsome looking man with a normal hairstyle decorated the cover, which shocked Lil' Louie into silence for a moment. Trying very hard to appear casual, the bee child tossed the magazine over his shoulder, not realizing it nearly hit Espio in the back of the head.

"But what do I know? I'm just a dumb kid!" Charmy playfully added as he shrugged his shoulders and stared at the ceiling, an ignorant grin on his face.

Lil' Louie stammered for a second before forming a response. "Exactly, you know next to nothing, playdough sniffer!" the college student eyed the magazine that was now in Espio's possession and tensed up a little. After a small section of silence, he cleared his throat. "But it wouldn't hurt to give my hair a quick wash before my mid afternoon bath. Out of my way, zygote!"

Lil' Louie sped walk past the floating, helmet-clad boy and rushed up the stairs to use the bathroom. When the door slammed disrespectfully loud, Charmy's eyes closed half way, as he turned sinisterly up the stairs.

"Take your time~" he sang patronizingly, as he sneaked up the stairs, not rushing at all. Espio looked up from the magazine and stared at Charmy's slow ascent up the stairs. Before he could say anything, Vector was calling for him, asking what takeout place had vegan options.

Back upstairs, Lil' Louie took out his special non-GMO shampoo and gingerly squeezed a handful of it in his palm and applied it to his scalp. For a few fleeting moments, he felt nothing but the sweet cleansing sensation of his $70 shampoo. He almost forgot he was in a bathroom that was shared with 3 other men, which offended his high class tastes.

But not too long after he had lathered his head with the cleaning substance, he felt a small prickling on his scalp. Nothing out of the ordinary, he just scratched that section a smidge more than the rest of his hair. However that prick and only grown in intensity with his scratching and worse still, similar sensations sprouted out of nowhere all over his head. Lil Louie scrubbed aggressively to rid himself of the growing irritation, but the prickling had erupted into an all out tingling rawness that consumed his senses.

He yelled panicked shrieks as his hands moved faster than they'd ever moved, clawing and scraping at his suds covered head, the unbearable itching taking over. As he lost all control of his fingertips, the suffering college student questioned what had gone wrong with his shampoo to make his skin this irritated. He had just used it last night, what was the problem? But he quickly remembered he was standing right in front of a sink and there was a bathtub to his right. He dove into the bathtub and wrenched the shower handles with all his might, sending a cascading stream of water raining on his head.

But as the foam and lather rinsed away, the itching hadn't ceased in the slightest. In desperation, Lil Louie flung open the cabinets in the small bathroom, looking for something to help him get rid of the insane itching, howling as he flung toothbrushes, cleaning wipes, deodorant and all sorts of restroom equipment across the room. Finally, he found something he could used: a used brillo-pad and a scrubbing brush to wash the bathroom tiles.

With the speed of greased lightning, Lil' Louie scrubbed and scraped his head, grinding it like an eraser on a pencil. And after 10 minutes of mad self-laceration, the prickling itch left him completely and Lil Louie fainted to the ground, having used up all his strength to combat the itch. Little did the desert rat know, his display had an audience, who was watching him through the keyhole of the bathroom door right then.

The tiny bee cupped his hand over his mouth to stifle the uncontrollable laughter that was attempting to bellow out of his body. The worn college student finally got back to his feet and dried his head, carefully styling it as tears rain down his face. The itching would haunt his dreams, he just knew it. When the young teal man began posing dramatically in the medicine cabinet mirror, Charmy initiated his next prank by knocking on the door.

"Hey buddy. Ya doin' okay in there?" he innocently asked.

"I'm fine! Just hungry!" the teal rat barked as he continued posing.

"Well you're in luck, food's here! Come n' get it!" Charmy informed him, uncharacteristically cordial. The scrawny rodent scoffed ungratefully and put his uncomfortably beige shirt and nauseously yellow tie back on. He walked to the door and grabbed onto the handle.

"It's about time-" he pulled with more than enough force to get the door ajar, but to his surprise the door didn't move.

"What-?" he thought aloud before trying again, nothing moving but the doorknob twisting in his hand. "What is the-?" this time he grabbed on with two hands and attempted an over the shoulder throw on the door. It was unfazed by his added strength and technique. "Why isn't the door opening?" Lil' Louie asked loudly, frantically pulling on the undaunted wooden door.

"Hey Louie? I thought you said you were hungry, aren't ya gonna join us for dinner?" the mastermind behind his predicament asked, feigning concern expertly, aside from his inflated trembling cheeks.

"Bee! The door is locked from the outside! I can't get out!" he screamed, sweat drenching his perfectly styled hair and pouring from his forehead as he continued to try and pry the door open.

"Locked? This door doesn't have a lock on it. Are ya sure you're pulling hard enough?" the adorable round child asked coyly.

"YES!" Lil' Louie grunted back, his feet pushing against the wall to give more power to his arms. "I!" he tugged hard. "AM!" he tugged again. "PULLING!" he kept on reeling back. "HARD!" but nothing happened. "ENOUGH!"

"Well, obviously ya aren't. Otherwise you'd be out by now. Why don't ya put your all into it?" Charmy said, releasing his laughter. He knew that with all the grunting and shouting that the intern was doing, he was safe from being heard.

"I JUST SAID I WAS PUTTING EVERYTHING I HAD INTO IT! THIS SHODY HOUSE IS TO BLAME! YOU LOWER CLASS SCUMRAGS COULDN'T AFFORD WORKING DOORS! GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!"

"How am I supposed to get ya out? I'm just a wittle baby boy. If you can't open it, there's no way I can, because you're stronger and tougher than me, right?" the small arthropod asked sarcastically. Lil Louie attempted to refute Charmy, but he found himself to sweaty, tired, and hungry to come up with something. So he huffed a large frustrated breath out and folded his arms.

"Well then how am I going to get out of here? Are you going to have Espio cut a hole in it or Vector break it off its hinges?"

"Have you tried the window yet?"

"Wh-what?!"

"The window. It's how I get in and out of the bathroom sometimes"

"I'm not climbing out of a window on the second floor!"

"Ya know, that's what a guy who's weaker and more cowardly than me would say. And ya aren't a weaker-than-a-six-year-old coward... are ya, Lou-easy like Sunday morning?" Charmy goaded, remembering Vector's previous dealings with prideful idiots in order to coax information out of them.

"Of course not! I'm not afraid to climb out of a two story window!" Lil Louie responded indignantly, falling for Charmy's ruse hook, line, and sinker. "Just make sure there's something outside to break my fall!" he continued as he cracked the window open tentatively.

"Oh, don't worry about breaking your fall, pal. There's a real nice cushion below, I'm sure you'll like it" the devious boy said, smiling like a mad man as he looked through the keyhole at his prey.

"Right, very good! I'll see you at the dinner table, insect" Lil Louie said confidently, only to peek out of the window to the ground waiting for him. It seemed to get farther and farther away the longer he looked, so fearfully he recoiled back inside the bathroom and heaved worried breaths. Charmy's smile grew wider.

"Okie dokie, artichokie~" he sang as he walked downstairs and out the front door, catching his ninja ally's attention once more. But Espio shrugged it off and continued setting the table, allowing Charmy to sneak to the corner of the Chaotix Agency building, so he could see the bathroom window where Lil Louie was still mentally preparing to jump out of.

In reality, the drop from the second floor was something anyone over the age of 12 could make without a cushion and be perfectly fine. It was only 7 or 8 feet above the ground, it was like jumping off of the top of a dumpster to the ground. But Lil' Louie continuously poked his head in and out of the window, trying to muster up the courage to jump on the random sacks that waited to catch him below.

After 7 excruciating minutes of waiting, Lil Louie shouted his war cry and plopped out of the window, onto the sacks that cushioned his fall. But upon impact, the packages ruptured and released a large black cloud. Lil' Louie's sneezing fits returned with a vengeance and Charmy fell on his back, howling and crying from his intense laughter.

* * *

As the Chaotix ate their Chinese takeout and enjoyed each other's company, the front door slammed shut, stealing all of their attention to the door. Which is where a sweaty, mucus-exuding, trembling, and angry Lil Louie stood, clenching his teeth and glaring at the happy family.

"Hey kid-er-Lou-isn't? What happened ta ya? Ya look like ya got hit by a truck. An' a couple of the truck's friends" Vector jested as he slurped down some noodles.

"This shack you lower class crumbs call a house is in desperate need of renovations, Vector. There's just too many things going wrong right after each other" Lil' Louie spat, plopping in an empty seat and waiting, as if someone was going to serve him despite the food being right in front of him.

"Well I'm sorry this day is not as promising as you would like it to be. But as the old proverb says, _Nanakorobi yaoki_ " Espio said, channeling his inner sage. But the other 3 people didn't understand a word he said. Vector cleared his throat a little as Espio continued eating as if they could understand him.

"... Espio, ya wanna add da translation ta dat?" he offered gently.

"Oh! Yes, forgive me," the chameleon lightly blushed from embarrassment before continuing. "Fall seven times and stand up eight," Again, everyone was silent, some out of confusion others out of complete understanding.

"... What does that have to do with anything?" Lil' Louie, the only confused person, asked rudely.

"It means no matter how many times life knocks ya down, ya gotta stand back up and keep moving" Charmy said nonchalantly, shocking Vector and Lil' Louie. Espio just smiled proudly at his pupil, he had been secretly teaching Charmy some Japanese sayings and while he didn't understand the Japanese translation, when he told him the english translation, Charmy remembered the lessons in the words.

"FEH! What a stupid saying. Whoever said that obviously never experienced true despair like I have!" the teal rat commented, picking up his plate and clearing his throat so that the entire table knew he was waiting to be served. All the Chaotix could do was stare at the bratty, self-obsessed young adult in their midst. Since Lil Louie sat down at the table, Charmy had been feeling just a little guilty about pranking him so expertly and awesomely. But that comment confirmed that Charmy's cause was just and his pranks were for justice, not just vengeance.

Finally, Espio spoke up, "... well, there's a vegetarian stir-fry and some water chestnuts for you to eat" he pointed his chopsticks at the closed containers and continued to eat. The intern glared at Espio and pouted as he opened the takeout boxes and served his own food, feeling like a slave as he did so.

"Oh don't forget your bubble tea! We already drank ours, but we left one special for ya! It's really good!" chimed in the youngest Chaotix member, an artificial sweetness added to his voice. But no one seemed to notice.

"I'll be the judge of that, ignorant toddler" Lil' Louie snatched the plastic cup and sucked on the straw.

"So when will our taxes be filed?" Espio asked, polishing off the remaining eggrolls, much to Vector's chagrin, who had already had 6 of them.

"What?" Lil Louie grunted as he finished judging the bubble tea as passible. "Oh, today is Sunday so the postal service won't be sending anything out today. Tomorrow your taxes will be mailed to the IRS and once they catalog it in their system, you'll be sent a letter back letting you know if you need to redo something or if you're all clear"

Vector shot up from his chair in excitement, "Dat's great! We jus' have to wait a couple days n' we're in da clear, boys!"

"Alright! Freedom!" Charmy cheered as he flew to Vector's eye level.

"That certainly is a relief, I must say" sighed the chameleon as he rested his hand on his chest and closed his eyes, allowing a small smile to come to his face.

"Da Chaotix pull through once again!" Vector announced triumphantly, putting his fist out for Charmy to bump with both of his tiny fists.

"I think you mean I pulled through while you all made my job even more diffi- KAH! GAK, KOOFFFF!" Suddenly, Lil' Louie was gagging and coughing like he'd been hanging from the gallows.

"Ey, ya alright, kid?!" the large crocodile asked, his earlier excitement all gone.

"What's wrong, young man?!" Espio shouted, rushing to Lil' Louie's panicking form.

"KAHHH! KOFF! SOMETHING WAS IN THAT TEA!" he flung the top off of his cup and visibly turned white all over. "EUUUAAAAAGHHHH! WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?! AAAAAAAHHHHH!" he bawled unseemly, dropping his cup to the floor and spraying the contents across the kitchen tiles. And what was in the contents was nothing that anyone could expect.

Minuscule, centipede like creatures swam around in the drink, their tails swaying them in undetermined patterns.

"Holy crap!" Vector shouted.

" _Nani_?!" yelled the magenta shinobi at his side.

"What in tarnation is going on?" Charmy asked, trying and failing to inject his voice with concern and confusion. Espio bent down and stared carefully at the wiggling, beady eyed creatures as Lil' Louie collapsed on the ground whining weakly.

"Are these... Sea monkeys?" Espio thought aloud.

"What're sea monkeys doin' in his drink?" the emerald detective asked.

"Well if I had ta guess, I'd say they're doin' the butterfly stroke, Boss" answered Charmy, sending Vector reeling backward.

"Bwahahahaha! Kid, ya kill me! Aw man, butterfly stroke! Hahahahaha! Espio, ya hear dat?!"

"Yes, quite humorous..." Espio said as he eyed Charmy. "That still doesn't explain why they were in his drink"

Vector waved his hand nonchalantly. "Oh who knows? Maybe the delivery boy goofed up when he drove it over here. No harm no foul, right Lil' Louie?" the green reptile looked over at the college student in question and immediately the Chaotix fell silent. The teal rodent had fainted from the ordeal, foam coming out of his mouth and light twitching were all he could do.

 _What a wussy, they're just sea-monkey, ya girl._ Charmy nearly said aloud, but quickly covered his mouth before anything could come out.

"Ohhhh... well, maybe I'll jus' carry 'em to his room so's he can rest up" the kind hearted man moved to the unconscious rodent and picked him up with one hand.

"I'll carry him for ya, Vector!" the small winged boy flew to him and snatched Lil' Louie from Vector's grasp.

"Wow, okay champ. Thanks." the emerald scaled man said. "I'm glad yer bein' so nice ta dis new kid. I know meetin' new people is difficult for you 'n Espio, but ya really are handlin' dis well. And jus' be patient cuz once we get dat letter from da IRS, he'll go back home 'n everythin' will be back ta normal" The crocodile's sincere grin brought the feelings of guilt back, Charmy couldn't look at him directly. How clueless was that reptile?

"So hang in dere for me, aight?" the music lover added, lightly rubbing Charmy's helmet-covered head.

"Yeah, sure, gotta take him upstairs, bye!" the bee quickly responded as he flew upstairs, avoiding eye contact with Vector. Charmy kicked open the room Lil' Louie was staying in, Mighty's old room, and dropped him on the floor. Only the scrawny student's leg was on the bed. Looking at the unsightly face of the contemptible young man made the arthropod want to throw up.

 _Guh! Vector what were ya thinkin'? Lettin' this poophead stay with us? And why's he gotta be in Mighty's room? Can't he sleep on the couch or somethin'?_ Charmy thought critically, as he glared at Lil' Louie. He pulled out the glue he used to keep the bathroom door closed and some rubber geese toys. Carefully, the young prankster coated the bottom of Lil' Louie's woman boots with glue and stuck the geese toys on the soles. He had been delicate, otherwise the unbearably loud honking whine from the toy would be activated and could wake the intern up too soon.

"Once he wakes up, he's gonna be freaking out every step he takes! Serves him right, Vector never should have brought this buttbrain into our hou-"

" _Chibi-dono!_ " an angry voice whisper-screamed behind him, interrupting his monologue.

"Ohhhhhhh no..." It happened. He had been caught. He knew that it wasn't going to end well when he got caught but he didn't know it would take one day for them to figure out what he was doing. Slowly, Charmy turned around, the corners of his mouth stretched as if he was straining out an E.

Espio's golden eyes pierced right through him as the chameleon spoke with authoritative anger. "Have you been... pranking the intern this whole time?!"

"... _noooooo_?" was Charmy's tentative response, his pitch getting higher as he stretched the word.

"Charmy..." Espio impatiently called, demanding honesty. The anxious bee stayed quiet for a minute as the ninja refused to let him off the hook, staring sharply at the child until his will broke down and he finally caved.

"... _yeeeeeah_ " his voice slowly returned back to his normal pitch as the truth was forced out of him. The yellow striped boy hung his head in shame, he knew he was in trouble now. Anxiously, he looked at the floorboards between him and his older companion who was seething mad at his behavior. Charmy slowly sunk into himself, waiting for the punishment to come, the lecture on pranks and why they're not funny, the rough one sided conversation about how much he's going to pay for what he's done to the intern.

He mentally prepared himself for it. He could take the punishment, he could grit his teeth and bear it. It would suck, but he could do it. But when the honeybee looked inside himself and asked the question that Espio was bound to ask, why, he saw a bold answer: Charmy just couldn't stand an outsider bossing him and his team around like he'd earned the right to do that.

The intern hadn't done anything to convince Charmy to forgive his behavior, the insect figured there was nothing that anyone could do to excuse everything the intern had done. He wanted him gone as soon as possible, he wanted the intern to know that he's not welcomed here and he can't treat the Chaotix like he treats other people. The Chaotix was Charmy's family, nobody messes with them, not even the guy that does their taxes.

So if he had to be grounded for two weeks or a month for defending his home, so be it.

However, not even that profound resolve could prepare him for the words that came out of Espio's mouth.

"I want in..."

* * *

 ** _What a twist! Espio and Charmy team up against the revolting hipster Lil' Louie! Plus a huge surprise at the end of next chapter that will FOREVER CHANGE CHARMY NONSENSE! Stay tuned for the next one, guys! It's gonna be a special one! ;D_**


	14. Charmy and the Intern 3-3

_**Alright! It's time to end this mini-arc of hilarity! Espio wants to join in on the fun, but is fun the only thing he has in mind? Well, let's find out! Enjoy! Oh and don't think I forgot about that tantalizing surprise I've been teasing~ X3**_

* * *

"You- you- you- YOU WHAAAAAAAT?!" Charmy shouted, causing Espio to snatch him out of Mighty's old room, where Lil' Louie lay unconscious, and rush them to Charmy's bedroom. The young bee was still in shock as the ninja peered over the door frame to see if they were alone before shutting the door.

"I want in. On the pranking" he clarified as he turned to the still bewildered Charmy. For a stretch of time, Charmy remained paralyzed, his mouth unhinged and his eyes bulging out of his skull. The chameleon simply stared back stoically and waited for his smaller teammate to unfreeze himself. When he did, an uncouth laugh roared out of his tiny lungs.

"HAHAHAHA! Yeah, okay Espio. YOU want to help ME prank Lil' Louie? Yeah right! Hahahahaha!" the child continued to chortle, flopping on the ground and bopping his floorboards uncontrollably.

"..." as Espio remained unfazed.

"Hahahahaheeheehee! You- pffthahahaha! You, the serious pants, fun police, stick in the mud, pranking- ahahahahaha!"

"..." But Espio did not move a muscle or express any emotion.

"Ahahahaha... hahaha... haaaaaa... whoo boy that's a good one, Espio" Charmy finally settled down, reclining on the floor as he panted happily.

"..." the magenta man had yet to move or say a thing, his expression stern and focused on Charmy.

"yeah..." sighed the arthropod as he looked up at Espio.

"..."

"... Wait, YOU'RE SERIOUS?!" he screeched.

"When am I ever intentionally humorous, _gaki_?" Charmy took a moment to think of an answer.

"Never... You ARE serious... but why would YOU want to prank the new guy?"

"I hate him" spat the chameleon.

"What?! He hasn't even done anything to you!"

"I hate meeting new people... and people in general," explained Espio. "Especially when they are suddenly staying in our home, without my permission"

"Okay but... what about Vector? All that stuff he said about needing to give new people a chance and being patient and-"

"Child, forgive my language, but screw all that. I'm pushing my limits living with the two of you, adding another person is more than I can stand. So let's dispose of this pathetic outsider..." Espio clenched his fist tightly as he finished, Charmy finally seeing the deep hatred that had been boiling beneath the chameleon's cool exterior this entire time. The ninja warrior was just as tired and jaded by Vector bringing Lil' Louie in as the helmet-clad boy was.

Young Charmy beamed at his usually level-headed companion and whipped out some of his pranking equipment he'd been carrying all day.

"OHHHH HO HO HO HOOOOOO! THIS IS GONNA BE EPIIIIC!" he cheered.

* * *

It felt like his brain had been replaced with a lump of coal as he sat up from his awkward sprawl. The teal desert rat groaned as he massaged his temples with his fingers. He could scarcely remember how he got back into his shoddy excuse for a room, let alone why his head was throbbing so incessantly. But he figured some more of Espio's tea would make him feel better. And the reptile had better had made a fresh cup for him.

The scrawny college student swiveled his legs off the bed, and as he put his feet on the ground to lift himself up, he heard a quiet inhale. For a second he wondered if he'd inhaled, but continued to stand up and make his way downstairs. However, as soon as he lifted his foot off the floor-

HOOOOOOOONNNNGH!

"EEEEEEEEYYAAAAAAAHH!" Lil' Louie screamed an ear piercingly loud wail and bolted into the hallway. But this action only caused several other-

HOOOOOOOONNNNGH! HOOOOOOOONNNNGH! HOOOOOOOONNNNGH!

His screaming and his running hadn't died down at all as he vaulted down the stairs and out the front door, the obnoxiously loud geese honks going for the ride. Vector had witnessed the action and attempted to follow after the cowardly young man, but as soon as the crocodile ran outside, Lil' Louie had already disappeared. The only evidence he had been there was a cloud trail of dirt trailing behind him.

As the emerald scaled detective scratched his head, perplexed, Charmy looked at his handy work from a window, cackling like a child on a sugar rush. But Espio, his new partner in crime, looked on unfazed. He squinted his sharp eyes at the dot that was Lil' Louie in the distance, a dissatisfied frown on his face.

"It's not enough" he whispered, under the howling Charmy rolling around on the floor. The chameleon leaned down and held the child still. "Little one, have you any... more viscous pranks planned?" he asked. After waiting a moment for the giggling boy to gather himself, Charmy answered.

"Haaaa... that was hilarious. Oh! I was gonna wait 'till ya made some more tea and switch the salt with the sugar! Can you imagine the look on his face? Bwahahaha!" Charmy fell back into a roll as Espio forced a smile to his face and reached out to stop his partner's cycle of laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha. Yes, that sounds nice," awkwardly laughed the magenta teenager. "But I was thinking of something a little more... harmful" he mused.

Charmy, now upside down, grabbed his chin and looked off in thought. "Wellllllll... I was gonna wait for everybody to go to bed and replace his toothpaste with mayo and his mouthwash with wasabi! That'll be hilarious!" he snorted out a laugh at the thought.

"Um, that sounds great too. But..."

Charmy sat up and flew to Espio's height. "Whaddya have in mind, Espio?" he asked innocently. For a moment, Espio looked at his shoes, his face remained serious and stern as he worked out what he would do.

Finally he looked up to Charmy, smiling. "No, it's fine. We can do your ideas first. Mine can be the last one we do" he closed his eyes, making his smile seem more genuine.

"Okay! Hey, do ya think you can do the salt and sugar switch? He's probably onto me now"

The chameleon brought his hands together and slightly bowed to the honeybee. "Leave it to me, _boku no tomodatchi_ "

* * *

A full 2 hours later, Lil' Louie wrenched the Chaotix's front door open and slammed it shut angrily. After 20 minutes of running for his life from the ungodly cries of geese, he had finally figured out geese toys were glued to his totally-100%-manly boots. The remainder of his time away was spent trying to pry the infernal pieces of plastic from the soles of his boots. Charmy made sure to use extra-strength crazy glue, for maximum irritation. And judging by the completely livid snarl seething from the boy's face, maximum irritation had been achieved.

The visibly worn young adult shot a furiously quivering finger at the young bee, innocently watching tv. "YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUU!" he bellowed in a deep voice, injected full of hatred, his head vibrating uncontrollably from the sheer vehemence of his anger.

But Charmy simply turned to look at him and smiled innocently. "Didja have fun on your run, Mr. Lou-isn't?" he asked in chaste. The teal man grabbed Charmy by his shirt and slammed him into the wall behind the tv.

"You think this is a GAME?! You don't think I know it was YOU who did that to my boots!?"

"I dunno what ya mean, but I lost my goose toys today. Do ya know where they are?" the young insect tried his best to keep a straight face and was barely succeeding.

"I SET THEM ON FIRE, YOU LITTLE PEST!" Charmy gasped, completely offended by such a deed. "AND GUESS WHAT?! I'M GONNA DO THE SAME THING TO YOUR TAXES! LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE GONNA BE DOING SOME JAIL TIME, YOU LOWCLASS DIRTBALLS!" he threatened with a wide, mad grin. Just as Charmy felt he could no longer allow the weak man to press him against the wall, Espio materialized between beside them.

"Of course, whatever you say, most honored guest. But you did exert yourself quite a bit. Would you like some tea to refresh yourself?" he calmly offered, Charmy watching in awe. Espio was a really good actor, he had to be because Lil' Louie started to scream at him.

"DON'T TRY TO- wait, you made more tea?" but couldn't stay angry long enough.

"Indeed, Lovely Louis" the shrewd ninja goaded. Charmy nearly gagged at how deeply Espio committed to his role. Lil Louie, still highly upset with Charmy looked between the toddler and Espio, who motioned to the kitchen. His eyes flashed between the two Chaotix for a minute and finally, he rested his glare on the child he pinned to the wall.

"To be continued, you foul trash wad!" Lil' Louie flung Charmy across the room, unbeknownst to him, Charmy had allowed it to happen and pretended to hit another wall. But he quickly bounced up and gave Espio the "ok" sign before flying upstairs with a bottle of mayo and a jar of wasabi.

In the kitchen, Espio calmly sat two tea cups on the table, before pouring the steaming substance in the ceramic. He scooped what appeared to be sugar into Lil Louie's cup, and gave it a good stir before relinquishing control to the desert rat. The young man, however, wasn't sure about the beverage offered to him, still paranoid about Charmy's prank.

So Espio hummed a low laugh and scooped what appeared to be sugar with a spoon and put it in his cup. However, using his incredible speed, the ninja managed to swat away the salt grains before they could even reach his cup. Certainly much faster than a man who was nearsighted and farsighted could see. The chameleon tranquilly repeated the feign sugaring of his tea a few more times and stirred the non-existent grains in his cup. Finally, he raised his cup, nodded to the suspicious intern, and drank.

Satisfied, Lil' Louie took a nice big gulp of his tea and immediately regretted it. "GAAAAK! OH GOD, IT THIS SALT?! KAAAAH! KOOFF! BLEGH!" he sprayed the tea (and his spit) everywhere, including in Espio's face. Disgusted, the shinobi took a napkin and cleaned himself off as the teal rat wallowed on the tiled floor.

"My apologize, I must have mixed up the salt and sugar!" faked Espio, pouring his tea on the ground to appear genuine.

"You blind oaf!" the entitled college student barked. "You're only good for making tea and even THAT you manage to screw up! What good are any of you?! UGH, I'M GOING TO WASH MY MOUTH OUT!" he shouted, spitting as he went upstairs. In the blink of an eye, Espio had cleaned the kitchen and was on his way upstairs, where Charmy hid behind his bedroom door.

Both of them approached the closed bathroom door and placed their eyes in front of the keyhole. Lil' Louie complained under his breath as he moved his agitated hands around the bathroom to prepare to brush his teeth. Charmy snickered a bit as he watched, earning him a quiet shush from his partner. Quickly, Lil' Louie pulled the toothbrush up to his mouth in order to rid himself of the foul taste, only to replace it with an even more disgusting sensation.

"BLEGH! WHOOOAGH! MAYONNAISE?!" he gagged violently. "HOW DID MAYONNAISE GET IN MY TOOTHPASTE?! GUUUUUHH!" The puffy cheeked toddler couldn't hold it in and folded in on himself at the display, while Espio continued to watch, unamused. The desert rat reached for the mouthwash and didn't bother measuring it in the cap, he took a healthy swig. Once again, regret welled inside of him.

"PWAAAAH!" the scrawny student sprayed the mirror with chunks of wasabi. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! BURNIIIING! GAAAAAAHHHH! SO HOOOOOOT!" he flailed all around the bathroom, crashing into various things before finally falling out of the window he had left open earlier that day.

Charmy had lost all sense of tact as he nearly wet himself from the entertaining sounds of his recently appointed arch-enemy's hilarious agony. Despite the merriment and victory of the moment, his older companion was not enthralled by the antics they'd just put the intern through. Once again, he found himself breathing lowly.

"It's still not enough..."

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! This is the best day of my lifeeeeeee!" the howling yellow striped boy below him managed to squeeze out between laughing fits. Vector, finally overhearing all of the racket from his headphones, boomed for them to keep it down. So patiently, the mature chameleon rolled the uncouth Charmy to his room and closed the door, before going downstairs to his own room and preparing for his own prank.

* * *

It was 7 am when Lil' Louie woke up outside of the Chaotix's home. He had managed to knock himself unconscious when he fell from the window last night. Fuming, the bony young man picked himself up and stomped back to the front door for the third time and kicked the door open.

"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE ALL GOING DOWN! I'M GONNA BURN THIS TOOL SHED AND YOUR TAXES SKY HIGH!" he barked, taking out a box of matches from his clearly feminine boots and striking one, igniting it like a torch. Violently, he whipped his head around and swiveled his body around to see if anyone was around to witness his vengeance. But there was no one, not even Vector, who was actually the least unforgivable of the bunch. Lil Louie tore his way into the kitchen, assuming they had to be hiding the taxes in there.

"IT'S TOO LATE FOR APOLOGIZES, YOU STUPID BLOBS OF FILTH! SAY GOODNIGHT TO LIFE AS YOU KNOW IT!" he declared as he boldly crossed into the entry way of the kitchen from the living room. Without warning, Charmy exploded out of a cabinet attached to the ceiling, a sheet billowing in his small hands as he roared a battle cry and covered the threatening college student in his sheet.

Before Lil Louie could properly articulate a scream, Espio appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and wrapped the bottom of the sheet, which laid at Lil Louie's shins, with a piece of rope. Espio finished the bow just in time for Lil Louie to find his voice.

"WHA-WHA- WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! LET ME GO! LET ME GOOOOO! I CAN'T HARDLY BREATHE!"

"Neither can I..." darkly replied Espio as he took out one of his wooden staffs. Charmy pulled his out too, tentatively and somewhat afraid of what was about to happen next.

"Soooooo... is it really okay for us to-?" A swift merciless strike hit the trapped Lil' Louie with a loud thwack. The nimble chameleon continued to swing and twirl his weapon expertly, no doubt bruising his prey with elite precision.

"I'll take that as a yes. Take this, buttbrain!" the young bee shouted before whacking the top of the sheet a good 20 or 30 times. Clearly, on a scale of one to Eggman Nega, Lil' Louie barely made it past a Chopper badnik, so he consciously held way back. Charmy mused that if he REALLY WANTED TO, he could smack Lil' Louie's head clean off his shoulders and earn a home run if they were at a baseball stadium.

But really, all the hyperactive bee wanted was for the guy to leave them alone and never come back. Though, as he watched his vastly stronger partner viciously attack the now crying young adult, he wondered if Espio was holding back as much as Charmy was. But he shrugged his shoulders and prepared to knock the guy out and end it, just in case Espio was aiming to land the poor guy in the hospital for a few months. Unfortunately-

"WHAT DA FLYIN' STUFF IS GOIN' ON?!" Vector boomed angrily, freezing everyone including the cries of Lil' Louie. Charmy was just in the middle of the finishing blow and had stopped just an inch short of Lil Louie's covered head, while Espio was on one foot, in the middle of a devastating combo, while the teal rodent had backed himself awkwardly on the kitchen table. Everyone looked at the enormous, displeased reptile standing before them, not a breath was breathed between them as the crocodile pierced his partners with his furious glare.

After a tense moment of frozen silence, Charmy awkwardly finished his final blow and bonked the intern on the head, while still looking at Vector, earning him a high pitched "ow" from Lil' Louie.

"What in da heck are you two doin' ta da intern?!" the buff adult demanded as he easily tore the sheet from Lil' Louie's body. The scrawny rodent, still clung to the lit match, which had apparently singed him everywhere during Espio and Charmy's assault. This time it was Espio who finished his attack and poked Lil' Louie in the eye.

"GAH! I QUIT! I DON'T NEED COLLEGE CREDIT THIS BADLY! BWAAAAAAA!" the bony young man screeched at an ear piercing volume as he ran upstairs to gather his things.

"Aw, no, wait a minute, ki-!" the emerald scaled man tried to stop him from leaving, but before he could even finish the sentence, a loud thump shot to his ears. Lil' Louie was so scared, he grabbed all of his stuff and jumped out of the bathroom window. For the third time. Charmy sniffed the air and he could tell that the teal rodent was booking it to his precious Harold and driving rambunctiously back wherever he came from.

 _Hope he likes all the whoopie cushions I hid on his rusty can._ He quietly thought to himself as he and Espio tiptoed away from Vector, toward the backyard. If they cut through Ray's garden, they could split up into the trees and live on berries until Vector cooled down. Yeah, that's a good plan, he frantically convinced himself.

"YOU TWO ARE IN IT DEEP NOW" the seething croc gritted through his teeth, hands clenched into fists.

"Ohhhhhh no..." _Well there goes the escape plan_.

"WHAT WERE YA THINKIN'?!" He bellowed as he turned to face them. "WERE YA EVEN THINKIN'?! YOU BEAT UP AN INNOCENT KID, WHAT IS WRONG WIT YOU TWO?!"

"What's wrong with US?! What's wrong with YOU, Vector?!" Espio shouted back, surprising both Vector and Charmy with the sudden outburst.

But quickly Vector got his footing back, "ME?! I WASN'T DA ONE BEATIN' A COLLEGE KID UP FER NO REASON!"

"No reason? NO REASON?!" Espio swatted the box of matches Lil' Louie forgot to take with him. Vector caught the matches, never taking his glare off of Espio.

"Uh, guys?" Charmy chimed in fearfully.

"He was an insufferable, entitled, selfish punk! You hired him without asking us about it first!" Espio shouted, pointing at the door Lil Louie had slammed closed disrespectfully too many times. "You shared our home with a stranger without seeing how we felt about it beforehand! You just decide these things, like our opinions don't matter!" a loud thwack on the tiled floor accented Espio's now uncovered rage.

"When have I ever- wait, dis ain't about ME, IT'S ABOUT YOU TWO 'N YOUR UNBELIEVABLE ATTITUDES!" Swiftly, Vector closed the distance between him and his smaller coworker. "DON'T SPEAK 'LESS I ASK YA TO!" a thick finger jabbed at the unflinching Espio's face.

"But you just asked-" Charmy tried, before being cut off.

"DAT WAS RHETORICAL!" Vector turned and shot the answer into the terrified bee's face, blowing him backward a bit with the force of his anger.

"He doesn't know what that means, Vector! And whether it was rhetorical or not, you DO need to know why we did what we did!" the lean chameleon retorted, walking into Vector's personal space, making the crocodile consider taking a step back for a moment.

Instead he poked his large finger on Espio's glistening forehead, "YER OUTTA LINE, CHAMELEON!"

The ninja smacked the gloved finger off of him and pressed his staff under Vector's large jaws, "Bringing a stranger in our house and expecting us to be okay with it is out of line, crocodile!"

Vector smacked the stick away from him, "I- YA- ESP- GAAAAHH! I'M TOO MAD TA TALK TO YA! WE'LL DISCUSS DIS LATER!" Vector took a half step back and turned to the youngest Chaotix member. " 'Til den, Charmy!" the small bee barely moaned a response before Vector continued.

"Yer grounded fer da next 3 weeks, mister!" he flung three fingers at the boy, who visibly absorbed the sentence.

"3 WEEKS?!" he shot back, challenging the legitimacy of the punishment.

"GO TA YER ROOM, LIL' MAN!" roared his boss, embers of fire accidentally spewing from his mouth as he pointed to the stairs.

The rambunctious child reeled back from the flames, and quickly raised a finger to articulate why his punishment didn't fit the crime "I..!" But after a quick sift through his memory, he realized what he'd been doing for the last couple days. "... guess that's fair. Those were some pretty intense pranks, right partner?" he playfully elbowed Espio, who broke out of his anger for a moment from pure embarrassment.

"NOW, BEE!" Vector reiterated, picking up Charmy and throwing him out of the kitchen.

"Fiiiiiine..." the helmet clad child groaned as he fluttered his wings and course corrected himself upstairs. He had to do inventory on his pranking stash anyway.

"We are talking about this NOW, Vector!" Espio forced, smacking his staff on the floor once again, causing Vector's attention to swivel back to him.

"NO! WE AIN'T!" he howled immaturely.

"YES, WE ARE!" the heliotrope reptile responded.

"ESPIO, NO! WE AIN'T!" Vector shouted, snatching the wooden staff from shinobi and flinging it into the living room.

"I THOUGHT-! I thought we... I thought _I_ was important to you..." Espio admitted, quieter than he'd planned.

"NO! WE- what?" the giant brute of a detective lost his rhythm when he heard the pain in his friend's tone. Espio stayed silent for a moment longer and exhaled in exasperation.

"If I mattered to you... you wouldn't have made this decision without discussing it with me first... that's why I attacked the strange, irritating intern" Espio said looking at a spot on the kitchen wall next to Vector's face. "Also he deserved it, he was treating all of us extremely poorly, especially Charmy. He was tasked with washing and waxing a car that was mostly rust out of unreasonable spite" he added bluntly.

The massive crocodile was at a loss for words. He didn't know all that happened when he wasn't looking. "... Espio I... I mean... Dat's... I didn't-"

The chameleon put up a hand halting Vector's stammering. "I'm not a child like Little One. I don't need your apology or your heartfelt confession. I just wanted you to know... that this type of situation is unacceptable"

"So you beat up an innocent person to make a point?" the larger reptile asked bitterly.

Espio folded his arms staunchly. "I'm a ninja, I was never required to be friendly or hospitable"

"But ya have mentioned bein' mature 'n emotionally collected. At da very least yer disinterested 'n aloof"

 _Good point_ , Espio thought to himself. "Yes. But this was a... special occasion..."

"A special occasion, to beat up a college kid?" Vector said flatly, flustering Espio a bit.

"Alright, you have to let that go, you bleeding heart" he half joked.

"Sorry, it's jus'..." The broad detective shook his head in disappointment and amusement. "Yer supposed ta be this highly trained ninja warrior. Ya shouldn't get yer kicks from beatin' up a kid like dat"

Espio let the sentence hang in the air for a moment before answering, "You seem to forget that I'm 16 years old. HE was older than ME" he clarified, much to Vector's shock. Once again, he found himself taking a step back from his stoic comrade.

"Oh... crap, he was," a thick arm slowly lifted to his headphones as Vector awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Dang... dat's a trip" he chuckled, staring into space.

The sound of his leader chuckling a bit, incited a pleasant hum from the normally temperate warrior. "... I suppose it is, yes..."

Vector laughed a little more, lightening the mood between the two for the first time that morning. But as quickly as it came, it was gone and uncomfortable silence wedged between the two companions.

"... So" Espio started.

"Mm?"

"What action do you want to take now?"

Vector placed his hand under his chin as he thought deeply on the matter. "Hmmmmm... well I am still pissed at cha fer makin' the intern quit... but I was in da wrong fer hirin' 'em without runnin' it by ya first. Sorryferdat,bydaway. But ya did encourage the kid to prank and violently attack someone jus' cuz ya didn't like 'em. So..." silence once again returned to the two reptiles.

"I'm willing to take whatever punishment for my actions... but let it be known that I regret nothing" Espio boldly admitted.

"O' course ya don't" Vector half sighed and half laughed. "I ain't gonna punish ya anyways. I gotta admit, I been stayin' in my room a lot more cuz I was avoidin' 'em," he sheepishly admitted. "He's jus' so... stuck-up 'n freaky. 'N he smelled like a walkin' grease trap. Plus he did try to burn the house down while we were still inside. Guess you guys WERE right fer runnin' 'em outta here"

"See? I knew there was something off about him"

"No, ya jus' don't like people"

Espio felt just a whiff of embarrassment. "... that too"

"Plus Charmy's... an acquired taste fer most. So dat rules out hirin' a new intern" the emerald crocodile thought aloud, sitting on the couch as he finished.

Espio walked over to the worn couch and sat on the arm rest beside Vector. "Good. We don't need new people around here, the three of us get by just fine"

"But Espio, you 'n me suck at paperwork. 'N dat's a huge part 'o this job. We need somebody ta pick up da slack 'round here"

"I said we'll get by. We always do, don't we?" a small smile illuminated Espio's face, making Vector feel at ease about the whole situation.

He grinned a toothy smile back at his partner. "Yeah, yer right Espio... we're a perfect trio. No need ta have nobody else in dis family!"

"Or more importantly, this home. I do not enjoy strangers staying under the same roof as me and my belongings"

Vector put his hands up defensively. "Aight, aight, I get it. Ya ain't a people person. I apologize, I'll talk stuff like dis over wit ya before I make any decisions 'bout anybody else. Ok?"

"... Alright then" Espio nodded stiffly in approval.

"We good now?" Vector asked, offering his fist to Espio.

"Yes... we are good now" the chameleon responded, his smile stretching just a bit wider as he tapped his fist against Vector's huge knuckles. The crocodile laughed to hide the slight worry he was holding onto since he'd sat down. Finally, he and Espio were back on the same page.

"Well den, I'm glad everythin's finally back ta norm-!"

Just then, the front door's lock rattled loudly, causing both of the men to shoot off of the couch and take their defensive positions around the downstairs. Espio clung to the ceiling, entering camouflage mode, while Vector hid in the secret closet attached to the stairs, where a small opening in the wood, perfectly made for his eye level, got him a clear look at the door, without being seen by the intruder. Slowly, the unknown person fiddled with the lock, almost as if they had multiple keys they were trying on the door.

Finally, the mysterious visitor realized that the door was already unlocked and tentatively, the door creeped open.

"Hellooooo?" a voice called out, friendly and warm. An elated happiness swelling in the tone. Golden irises shot open in response to the voice both Espio and Vector felt a strong connection to the sound of the unidentified person.

"Who..? Wait a minute... is dat..?" Vector whispered to himself, catching a small glimpse of the figure opening the Chaotix's door.

"Vector, Espio, Charmy? You guys here?" another voice announced, stronger and more assured than the meek, tentative air the first voice gave off. Vector opened the closet door and slowly walked up to the front door, his eyes unblinking and in complete awe of what he deduced was happening.

" _Matte_... that must be..." Espio could remember that voice clearly, he dropped from the ceiling and returned from camouflage mode, eager to see the person the voice belonged to. The door opened just enough for two heads to pop inside the building, the sunlight beaming so intensely that only vague silhouettes could be made out.

Immediately, one of the mysterious figures giggled at Espio and Vector, who now stood side by side. "Hey guyyyys!" the first voice greeted sweetly, a young boy's voice.

"They're here... they're really here..." breathed Vector, his mouth refusing to close as the sunlight shined brightly in his and Espio's faces.

"We're back from our trip!" the stronger voice informed happily, an older boy's voice, belonging to a taller silhouette. Excitedly, the two figures crossed the threshold of the Chaotix home, as if it was a familiar action. Something they'd been looking forward to for years.

"Vector, I retract my previous statement about us not needing anyone else here" Espio said, without taking his eyes off of the two boys walking up to them.

"Me too, buddy. Me too..." Vector responded, mirroring Espio's shocked expression.

Finally, the shadowy figures were close enough to the bewildered reptiles that they could be identified. The smaller one was a yellow fur covered squirrel, his smile wide and his cheeks plump. His head had a cute tuft on top, making his round head look like a perfect chestnut. He had blue shoes with two white straps and gloves with cartridges on the wrists cuffs. His tail was as big as his body and bushy as it hanged behind him, curling like a fist at the end. He wore a large blue backpack and was carrying a box labeled "Fragile Plant Specimens: Handle Very Gently".

The other, taller boy was a black furred armadillo, his red shell sharply contrasting his black fur and peach skin. His nose was long and pointed, almost as long as the horn on Espio's face, and he had a pleasant smirk on his face. He wore shoes similar to Sonic's but different enough to stand out and his average stature betrayed his strength. He carried countless bags and boxes with one hand while the other laid on his hip triumphantly.

"Ha ha ha! What's the matter? It looks like you've seen a ghost!" Mighty the Armadillo joked before laughing heartily.

"Surprise!" Ray the Flying Squirrel exclaimed, hopping giddily in place. "Didja miss us?"

* * *

 _ **Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel have arrived in Charmy Nonsense. As PERMANENT characters. Didn't see that coming, did ya? XDDDD**_

 _ **Now before anyone says it, no, I didn't get the idea to include them from Sonic Mania Plus. I actually had this idea all the way back in Chapter 3! Because I was running out of ideas for lighthearted stories, so I said "Hey, why don't I make one about Mighty and Ray coming back! That'd be cool!" But I wanted to wait for a special chapter number to debut them. So Chapter 14 wasn't exactly the plan, but then Sonic Mania Plus happened and well, it's like they stole my idea to bring them back! XDDDD But whatever, I'm not butthurt about it. I'm just glad everybody already knows about their Classic counterparts, because after Espio's chapter... I'm gonna introduce you to the MODERN Mighty and Ray. -w- Until then, stay cool, peeps!**_


	15. Charmy Tries Stealth (E)

**_Finally, we're back with Espio's serious story! Please read Chapter 5 before reading this chapter because this is a direct continuation of that story. And Chapter 25 will be a direct continuation for this chapter. So look forward to that one when I get around to writing it. XDDDD_**

 ** _Been waiting a long time to get this to you guys, I really hope you like! X333_**

* * *

The warm sunrise filtered into existence like a looming commandment, one he dreaded to acknowledge. Thin yellow rays shot through the blinds-covered window and shined against his cold scales, breaking his concentration. Magenta eyelids contorted at the light beams, the force of their luminescence palpable and pressing the chameleon's head backward a bit. His surroundings returned to his attention, the meditative position he froze himself in reluctantly melted and he felt the exhaustion of his extremities for the first time. Slowly, his eyes peeled open and the somber ninja was back to his uncomfortable reality.

Espio didn't sleep last night. How could he, with the words of the mysterious letter still ringing in his mind, louder than thunder? He thought meditation would help him figure out who sent it and what it meant, but Espio's mind remained blank. He rose to his feet, muscles taut and joints creaking in protest, but with precise, yoga-like stretching, Espio felt loose and more relaxed. He shot his golden eyes over to the digital clock on his dresser and sighed lowly.

"That early, huh?" he thought in exasperation. It was 5:27 AM, an unholy hour for his two, lackadaisical compatriots. Espio was alone, but he didn't need the clock to tell him that; the absence of Vector's strong footsteps and less than stellar singing and Charmy's incessant chatting and rambunctious movement told the shinobi that right now, it was just him and the Sun that were awake.

Espio hadn't planned on staying up all night, after Vector went inside, Espio returned to his room and assumed the Full Lotus meditative position, hoping to find answers or at least peace from the exercise. And he vowed that until he found one of the two, he wouldn't stop meditating, and there he stood: Sleepless. Answerless. Peace-less.

A disappointed moan escaped past his lips as Espio turned to his door and slid it open, stealthily moving in the shadows of his small home. He allowed no sound to build during his trek, skillfully avoiding all creaky spots on the floor and stepping lighter than a feather, while still moving quickly. Within seconds, he was in the kitchen without a single noise produced. With careful, precise movements, the magenta reptile began preparing breakfast for his team, as he did every morning.

His mind wandered as he clicked the stovetop burners on. "How did the author of the letter find me? How does he know Japanese? And why did he send the letter in the first place?" A frying pan laid on top of the blue fire, a chunk of butter began to melting as Espio rotated the pan, the butter gliding across the entirety of the surface, painting it with savory goodness.

"What was the goal in sending it? How would he even know when I received it?"

Fragile off-white shells broke apart, releasing the gelatinous insides they protected drooping to the sizzling butter coated pan below. Several sunrise yellow yokes floated inside their new home, the transparent plasma that surrounded them slowly gained a white opacity as they bubbled into view.

"What's going to happen next? Will more letters be sent here? Will assassins be sent here? Can't let that happen"

Espio unwrapped a loaf of bread, eyed a few moldy slices, discarded them, and flung several pieces in a rather old toaster. It always took more than 3 tries to get the appliance to receive the bread, but with persistence, it obeyed and began to cook the wheat slices.

"Should I go look for this guy? Maybe I could ask the- no. No, that's probably what he wants. But staying put could also be what he wants. He must be watching me, that's the only way he knows where I live"

A cookie sheet lined with raw bacon strips and sausage patties slid into the oven, like a drawer in a desk and the ninja's nimble fingers twisted a nob to set the oven to a low flame. A second pan silently landed on another burner, oil covering its surface as Espio flung potatoes in the air and proceeded to dice them into shreds while they traveled from the air and into the waiting pan.

"He must have spies, good spies since I haven't been able to detect them. Could they be..? No, that's not... not possible. But then, how am I being watched and not know it, if it was by anyone other than..?"

Sharp eyes scanned the refrigerator for produce until they focused on some colorful nectarines and oranges. Quick hands snatched them and flung them skyward, after a series of lightning fast slashes, the fruits were divided and gathered into a medium sized porcelain bowl.

"If that's what I'm dealing with then, this isn't going to work out. Damn, if only I knew who was watching"

The toaster let out a chunk as toasted bread resurfaced, signaling the final portion of the entire process. It only took seconds for the swift ninjutsu expert to set the table neighboring the humble kitchen and lay out the finished dishes. The last plate to fall was Vector's, hefty and packed with golden brown crispy hash-browns, well toasted and well buttered toast, sizzling vibrant strips of bacon and pleasantly charred, thick sausage patties; and finally, a generous amount of sunny-side up eggs.

Little, sunburst orange orbs surrounded by slightly runny white. Espio stared down at the meal, the works of his hands, and sanctioned his attention to the eggs. The many, dead circles, resting atop the other contents of the croc's breakfast. For a moment, it seemed as if the black pepper flakes Espio seasoned the protein with were focused into a circle, giving the yokes an uncanny resemblance to eyes.

Many, foreign, uninvited eyes, staring unflinchingly at the paranoid ninja, who could only look back helplessly.

"This definitely isn't going to work," he said to himself, the unmistakable inkling that something very wrong was just beyond the horizon. "Meditation. Perhaps I need more time to find the answers"

Before the stoic teenager retreated back to his room, he placed several cereal boxes and a half empty carton of milk on the other end of the table, along with Charmy's favorite bowl and spoon, all colored in a seemingly haphazard fashion that could only attract the attention of a child. Espio allowed the slightest hint of a smile appear on his face, before his mind returned to the more grim reality of an unknown threat to his way of life. He needed to get to the bottom of this and he needed to do it as quickly as possible. Another trip between the shadows and past the more noisy sections of the floorboards and Espio was back in his room, his back turned from the window. He inhaled and exhaled calmly, bending down to the ground and folding his body into a full lotus. He closed his eyes and focused on the swarm of questions clouding his mind and once again attempted to wrestle down each and every one.

The aroma of a well balanced breakfast broke Charmy out of his deep slumber. The young bee stretched unseemly in his bed, a swirling mess of sheets, comforter, and stuffed animals (and secret bags of candy) all contorted to his body's movement. All at once, he finished stretching out his lax muscles, popped into the air, and let out a blissful yawn. The sunshine flowed through the open window, caressing his plump, rosy cheeks and coaxing a wide smile out of the innocent toddler.

Charmy slept well last night. How could he not, after blissfully falling asleep watching his favorite cartoon in the lap of his favorite emerald shade crocodile? Not only did he have a good time watching tv with Vector, he also had a brilliant idea on how to make Espio feel better. Charmy rushed out of his room and to their shared bathroom, quickly running through the morning routine of cleanliness, and ricocheting downstairs to the awaiting feast.

Before he could see the shabby table the Chaotix ate every meal on, he could hear voracious biting and smacking, accompanied by some barbaric grunting. "Vector's up" the young insect thought as the table finally came into view. True enough, the green behemoth was sitting at the head of the table, shoveling food down his mouth in an uncouth display of gluttony. Though the sight didn't disgust Charmy, in fact, it delighted him to see his boss happily enjoying a meal and waiting for him to join in the indulging.

Vector's eyes shot up to Charmy as the boy came into the open space of the adjoined kitchen, dining room and living room. "Mmmhp, merrnin' sqwartuh! Hawwd jew schlep?" he said with a mouth full of food, some of it slipping out of his massive jaws and splattering on the table. The small arthropod was adept in deciphering the familiar language of "stuffed face", and responded accordingly.

"Mornin', boss man! I slept good, how 'bout you?" his small hands reached out and clutched a cereal box and the jug of milk, pouring both into a bowl at the same time, never breaking eye contact with Vector who sat directly to his left.

"Auuuufff, Ahhh schleep gweaatuh"

"Ya sure ya weren't up all night worryin' bout Espio?" Charmy asked, the contents of his bowl overflowing a bit, suggesting that he should stop pouring. Vector nearly choked on his food at his response, pounding his chest with his large fist to unclog the wonderful sustenance from his throat.

"Wh- what?! I said I slept great, Charm! I wasn't- up all night- get outta here wit dat! Hahaha!" the reptile awkwardly choked out, avoiding eye contact and rubbing his neck.

"So he was up all night" Charmy thought sadly, shoveling spoonfuls of sugary frosted mush into his mouth with incredible speed. The force of his splashing made the milk spray the table a bit. "Well, that's good, cuz I got a plan to make ol' ninja man feel all better again! And I need your help!"

"Whaddya talkin' bout, kid?" Vector asked, after taking a loud swig of orange juice from his cup.

"Just listen! Espio's down in the dumps cuz of that letter right? So all he needs is a distraction. And who's better at distracting people than me, the great Charmy Bee?!" he cheered, between spoonfuls of cereal.

Vector held his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Hmm, ya got a point. Ya ARE the most distractin' kid in the world..."

"See, see, see?! I can take Espio's mind off of whoever he's thinkin' bout and he'll be the sarcastic, serious, stick in the mud we all love!" the bee exclaimed before slurping all the leftover milk in his bowl and slamming the dish back on the table.

"A'ight, a'ight, but whaddya gonna do specifically to get Fuchsia Face to feel like his ol' self?" he asked then finished off the rest of his perfectly seasoned eggs. Charmy flew above the table suddenly and landed in a cheesy, Saturday morning, live action superhero show pose, a mouthful of nectarines filling his mouth.

"Schtelphy shhcadeew neenjaah acktackh!" he mumbled, looking triumphant.

"Stealthy Shadow Ninja Attack? Ya mean, yer gonna-" Vector trailed off as Charmy swallowed the contents of his mouth and finished his sentence.

"Show Espio how good a ninja I can be! That'll get his attention, for sure!" he announced, suddenly flinging a powdery substance at Vector's face, effectively blinding him for several seconds.

"Gah! CHARMY! What the heck are ya doin' throwin' sawdust at-" when the angry crocodile opened his eyes again, the sneak-attacking child was nowhere to be found. "Wha- where- Charmy? The heck didja go?" he stood up and ran around the entire downstairs looking high and low for Charmy.

It wasn't until he got face down on the floor to look under the ancient couch that he felt a soft impact on his thick tail. With a surprised yelp, the strong adult scurried backward only to see Charmy holding onto his scaly tail, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"See?! I've been practicin' for a while! Espio thinks I don't try hard when he trains me, but I DO! He'll be so happy I got the drop on him, he'll forget all about that dumb ol' letter!" Charmy giggled excitedly.

"Heh, dat's a pretty good plan, half-pint" Vector smirked proudly, gaining an even bigger smile from the clever toddler. However, the crocodile's tail switched back and forth, hurling Charmy to and fro, before flicking swiftly and launching Charmy into the floor. "But don't evah throw junk in my face again, or I'll flatten ya like a pancake"

Charmy weakly lifted his hand and barely performed a salute with his shaky arm. "Yesh, shur" he moaned comically.

"A'ight so, whaddya need me ta do?" Charmy shot up in excitement, completely recovered from Vector's playful attack.

"Easy! Tell him to go outside and check on Ray's garden! Then, wha-bam-o! I catch him by surprise with my awesome sneaky skills!" the boy motioned exuberantly with his hands to further illustrate his point. Vector's barrel chest rumbled as he chuckled warmly at Charmy. He marveled at the child, remembering how utterly inept he felt last night as he laid awake, devising failed strategies to get Espio to cheer up. All night long he produced ideas, only to play them out in his head and have them fail.

But Charmy seemed to be sitting on the best method of cheering up the troubled chameleon the whole time. Vector rubbed the top of Charmy's head in a rough, loving gesture. Truly, the kid was something else.

"Well, less start dis plan o' yours. It might actually work" he said as he rose to his feet and headed to Espio's room. His giant hand reached up to the pair of arched top saloon doors leading to the short hallway that led to Espio's room. But a thought occurred to him and he turned to ask Charmy.

"Wait, what about-" his voice halted once he saw there was no one in the room but him. "Man, he really WAS practicin' stealth" he thought, genuinely impressed. The broad shouldered croc resumed his journey to Espio's room, coming to a stop in front of the ninja's Japanese sliding doors. Carefully, Vector moved one hefty index finger to the wooden frame, tapping it lightly.

"Espio?" he called tentatively. There was no response. "Espio, I know you're up. Breakfast was delicious, as usual" Vector complimented, noticing his shadow looming over the translucent paper of the door. He heard the faint sound of Espio exhaling, he sounded tired. The detective already knew his partner hadn't slept last night either, so that was no surprise.

" _Ohayou gozaimasu_ Vector... Glad you enjoyed it" Espio replied, a somber hint in his tone. Vector continued, hoping the kid could change that in a minute.

"Uh, listen. I need ya to check on Ray's garden. It's been a little bit since you've done maintenance on it and frankly, you're the only one for the job. My hands ain't for tendin' to delicate plants 'n Charmy is Charmy so dat only leaves you" Vector scratched the top of his head as he spoke, hoping he sounded natural.

There was another uncomfortable pause in the conversation, Espio seemingly ignored Vector's request. But as soon as Vector inhaled to speak again, Espio's door slid open calmly, the smaller chameleon looking up at Vector.

"I'm aware you and Charmy are unable to tend to the garden. I gave my word to Ray that I would take care of the garden, so it's my responsibility alone" he replied flatly, his eyes baggy and his expression hiding only some of the weight he was shouldering. Without another word, Espio walked past Vector and down the dark hallway.

"Thank you for reminding me" he said as he walked further away from Vector, emotionless. The large reptilian man stood still, worried and hopeful.

"Kid, your plan better work..."

The magenta lizard solemnly meandered to the backyard, a wide expanse of vegetation spanning several feet sat proudly, waiting for his attention. With a tense exhale, Espio went down the line of various plants, spraying them with fresh water. Leaves glistened in the sunlight as the dirt's color darkened thanks to the blessed hydration.

Espio's mind, usually quiet and carefree when tending to the garden, was a roaring swirl of questions and conspiracies. Was he being watched right now? Where was the spy? Were they within projectile range? All he could think about was finding out who was stalking him and getting his hands on the unfortunate individual.

His watering became less and less thorough as his attention shifted from the plants to his surroundings, for once, he cursed the location of the Chaotix's home. Their backyard was surrounded by nothing but trees and grassy hills. Perfect cover for... Espio's prime suspect of the letter's author. Sure, he was more than happy that he didn't live in Central City where anyone and everyone was compromised of security and privacy. The wide expanse of plains that laid peacefully in front of the house was great tactically speaking, the dirt road leading to the city was appreciated. But the backyard, while beautiful and engaging, was nothing more than a horrific collection of blindspots to be exploited.

Why didn't he see it before? He should have cut down all the trees in the surrounding area so their back could be as clear as their front, incoming threats would never be able to surprise them. And why couldn't he shake the feeling that the spy was here, now, watching him? Reading his movements like one of Charmy's children's books. Before, he only had the knowledge that someone, at one time was watching him, but now... _he could feel it_...

A fairly loud snap and the sensation of crumbling material in his hand brought him out of his head for a moment. He was just in time to see the plastic watering can he had been using fall to the ground, spilling its contents on the dirt outside of the garden's perimeter. The pieces of plastic that used to be its handle were crushed in his tense grip.

" _Yare yare daze_ , Espio. You're losing control" he whispered to himself, shame proliferating his mind. The ninja kneeled down to clean up the mess he made, but felt the spikes on his back raise up. The feeling of someone's presence in his immediate area increased tenfold. And he could sense where exactly they were now.

The tree, just above him. He analyzed the shadows of its branches in his peripheral vision and saw the hint of a person's arm in the shadows. " _Amateur..._ " he thought to himself. He continued cleaning the mess, not wanting to give the mysterious enemy the idea that they were noticed. Espio would play it cool, wait for the right moment, and strike faster than the wind. "This fool has no idea who he is dealing with", Espio thought, his muscles couldn't help but tense as his sixth sense drove his body into hyper awareness.

"He won't know what hit him... when I get my hands on him, I'll make him talk... make him tell me everything he knows..." Espio thought, slowly standing to his feet, trying to keep his fury in check as he did so. He turned to the house and began to take a step.

"Then, once he's said everything... _I'll kill him!_ " he screamed inside, eyes sharp and brows angled like a demon's. The smallest of sounds came from the tree branch, letting Espio know that it was time to strike. In one fluid motion, Espio took out a kunai with one hand and smacked the ground with his other, flinging dirt and the plastic pieces of the watering can in the spy's direction.

They yelped and sputtered at the spray of foreign objects rushing into their vision, Espio taking no time at all to turn invisible and get behind his target with a wide arcing backflip. The chameleon came down on his target like a ferocious dragon diving for its prey. His kunai came up to the screaming enemy's neck as he curled a powerful arm around their tiny body, leaving no room for struggling.

"Who sent you?!" the furious fuchsia shinobi roared, anger on full display. But quickly, he realized his mistake.

"Es- Espio! Hold up, it's me, it's me!" Charmy cried, fearfully reeling as far away from the kunai as he possibly could. Espio grunted in horror and repelled Charmy, sheathing his kunai in the process. Charmy coughed a bit and tended to his neck, huffing big breaths as Espio's mouth caught up to his brain.

"CHARMY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND YOU SHOULD NEVER SNEAK UP ON A NINJA, I COULD HAVE SERIOUSLY HURT YOU!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, all his frustration blasting out at the innocent child.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I did- did- didn't mean-"

"UNACCEPTABLE! YOU WERE IN SERIOUS DANGER, CHARMY! YOU CANNOT DO THESE THINGS WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE IT! I COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO YOU THAT I CAN'T TAKE BACK!" he stomped closer to Charmy, fuming with unbridled fire in his chest. Charmy attempted to back away, too frightened to get up from the ground.

"B- b- but I- I- was only tryin-"

"NO! NO EXCUSES, _NAOKO_! YOU NEVER THINK BEFORE YOU ACT! DON'T YOU GET IT?! I WAS READY TO KILL-!" Espio stopped mid-sentence. Only now did he notice how ferociously he was acting, and how helpless and terrified Charmy looked up at him. The contortion of the young bee's face was enough to completely snap Espio back to his old temperament.

"Charmy... I... what were you thinking, small one?" he said much calmer and much quieter. Charmy heaved in frightened breaths, stifled the rising need to cry, and tried to find his voice.

"I- I jus'... wanted to show you... how much I been practicin' my ninja stealth..." he said in a small, impossibly genuine voice. The words broke Espio inside. The rushing feeling of his adrenaline, his angst, his paranoia, his rage, all of it escaped from every pore. The feeling dropped him to his knees.

That was what this was? That was why Charmy was out here? That was why he nearly... did the unthinkable to the boy? Because he wanted to show the chameleon, who had always chastised the boy to diligently train in a skill-set that, quite honestly, the child didn't NEED to learn. Because he wanted to prove that he valued and appreciated Espio's teaching and discipline.

"I jus'... I jus' wanted to... make you feel proud..." the still recovering boy whispered, a hurt edge to his words. And that was the last straw. The guilt that Espio was piling on himself in this moment doubled in weight at the sound of Charmy's small voice. How unbelievably heartless could he be, to lash out at one of the most important people in his life, who was only trying to make him feel better. Espio felt as if he was being dragged into the planet itself, the overwhelming sinking feeling of guilt and regret taking over his mind.

"Charmy... I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to- I wasn't trying to hurt- I didn't- I'm sorry..." the chameleon nearly begged as he bowed before Charmy. This was one of his greatest shames in life. He could scarcely believe his behavior. Tender hands quickly grabbed the sides of his downturned face and lifted the wallowing reptile to Charmy's eye level.

"No no no, I'm sorry, Espio! I shouldn't have snuck up on you! I thought- I thought it was a good idea, but it was dumb! It was dumb, dumb, dumb! I scared you and I couldn't even sneak attack you in the end! Uggggh! Why did I think this would make you feel better?!" the bee berated himself, eager to take some of the guilt away from the already suffering Espio. The ninja could handle no more and pulled Charmy into his arms in a desperate embrace.

"Your plan worked, small one. I do feel better" softly commented the shinobi, as he rubbed soothing circles on Charmy's small back.

"No it didn't! You're mad... and you're scared... I didn't do anythin' but make ya feel worse..."

"Silence, you are not at fault for my behavior," Espio corrected strongly, pushing Charmy off of him in order to look at the child's face. "Attempting to make me feel better is noble and kind. I am the fool, not you, Charmy"

"But Espio, I couldn't even sneak up on you, ya knew I was there the whole time, didn't ya?" he accused, eyes wide and full of worry.

"I knew someone was there, but not because you weren't careful and even then, I didn't know _who_ was there. And I didn't know _how dangerous_ they were until I grabbed you" he encouraged, tightening his grip on Charmy's tiny shoulders. Charmy looked down at his shoes for a moment.

"Listen Charmy, I am so proud of you. You've really made an effort in your training and you've improved so much farther than I believed you could. And that makes me happy. You successfully surprised me and that cheers me up" As Espio spoke, the insecure boy lifted his head back up to look the ninja in the eye. And he was greeted not with the sharp and deadly gaze of a dangerous ninja warrior. But with the warm soft stare of a truly grateful teammate. A fuzzy heat rumbled in Charmy's stomach and rose to his cheeks as he studied Espio's face for a few moments.

Finally, he felt the courage to speak again. "Did... Did I really make you feel better?" he asked, tentatively, fiddling with his fingers in nervous pantomiming. For the first time that day, Espio released a chuckle, airy and pleasant, his smile returned and the sun shined just a bit brighter because of it. That was Charmy's answer.

"Woah... I did it! Hahaha! Never underestimate the power of the most distracting boy in the world!" Charmy cheered incredulously, flying into the air to celebrate in a rambunctious dance. Espio watched him, his small smile spreading wider. He really did feel more relaxed than he had in two days.

"Yes, you did it. But because of you, I crushed the watering pot and failed to finish my task of watering the garden. Now you get to help me as penance" the coy shinobi commanded. Charmy whipped his head down at Espio, his earlier smile replaced with a gaping maw of disapproval.

"Whaaaaat?! Nooooo, I don't wanna water all these stupid plaaaaants!" he whined, drooping his shoulders and legs in annoyance.

"Too bad, you're helping me whether you desire to do so or not. Now fetch me the other watering pot under the sink" he ordered, smirking up at the disapproving toddler. With a long, loud, exasperated sigh, Charmy fluttered inside the house and returned seconds later with a metal watering pot.

"So unfaaaaair..." he groaned as he handed the watering pot to Espio's patient hand. However, as Espio resumed watering the vegetation, Charmy cracked one eye open and looked at his older companion, a knowing smile rising to his face. He pulled out a packet of plant food from his jacket pocket and sprinkled the areas that Espio had already watered.

The two detectives enjoyed their tasks in comfortable silence, the earlier tension completely obliterated as peace reigned in the backyard. It took an hour, but the two of them finished their task and looked at their work with a small sense of pride. Ray will be pleased they were taking such good care of his garden, whenever he got back from his trip with Mighty. Espio clapped his hands together, ridding his gloves of most of the dirt that littered them. Charmy mimicked his gesture with less poise and restraint.

"Now, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" Espio pointed his words toward Charmy, turning to look at the floating boy.

"It wasn't too boring, I guess" he sniffed, avoiding eye contact with the smug chameleon who chuckled for the second time that day.

"Well, you've earned a break from chores, come, let's go back inside the house and read one of your comic books" the shinobi offered as he pulled the backdoor open and stepped back inside the cooler interior of their home.

"Sweet!" Charmy exclaimed, rushing past him. "Will ya do the cool voices, Espio? Pleeeeease?" he begged as he flew backwards to the stairs.

"Yes, yes. How else would one read a comic book?" he asked playfully. Charmy beamed at his older friend and bolted upstairs to shift through his collection of action packed entertainment. He returned within seconds and came barreling down with a stack of magazines.

"Woah, don'tcha think dats a bit much for Espio to read, Charm?" Vector chimed in from across the rooms, looking between Charmy and Espio, before focusing his gaze on the magenta teen. Espio smiled at him, communicating everything Vector needed to know in a single look: appreciation, happiness, contentment, and yet, fear and worry still managed to burst through.

Vector nodded in response, offering a comforting smile to his leaner friend, which let Espio know everything he needed to in a single gesture. Charmy plopped the comics on the ground and sat in front of the pile.

"Espio can pick the ones he wants to read and I'll take the rest upstairs after!" Charmy said happily, smiling up at Vector. The jade giant walked up to him and sat next to the boy on the floor, rubbing his head gruffly, thanking him for his hardwork without saying a word. Espio calmly walked over to his teammates and sat behind Charmy, the bee hopping into his lap as soon as he was settled.

"Hmm, let's see here... which one should we begin with?" he asked, scanning the pile absentmindedly. Within the collection of various randomly selected paperbacks, one stood out to the ninja. He plucked it out of the pile and realized just why that one held his attention longer than the others.

The comic had _hirigana_ on it, bright and bold colors were used along with an odd graphic style to title the book. Its cover displayed a pair of serious, piercing yellow-green eyes, separated by the sharp blade of the man's sword, a white background making the flowing hair of the character standout all the more. Upon closer inspection, Espio realized the book's spine was on the opposite side than a normal comic book, this comic's thickness also took him by surprise.

"Oooh, ya picked a good one, Espio! This one is super epic! And you'll really like it, it's got ninjas in it!" Charmy cheered, excitement emanating off of him in waves. Espio looked between Charmy and the comic, finally deciding to just read the thing.

"Alright then, this book is called, _Basilisk_. Which is a giant creature of legend, said to be King of all snakes" he explained as he opened the comic to its first page, Charmy sitting in awe of Espio's knowledge of things like that. Vector simply leaned in closer to see the pictures as Espio allowed Charmy to absorb the first image displayed, a dramatic 2 page spread of all of the characters posing toward the viewer in typical ways, all except the cover character, who was looking away from the viewer. Splatters of blood were painted over the picture to add more edge, Espio supposed.

He turned the page again and the story began. "Half a year back in time..." Espio narrated in a quirky, booming voice, inciting a giggle from Charmy. " _Kouga Manji_ Village, where an unsightly spider-like monkey sits by the river, waiting for a fish to bite. His name is _Kouga Kazamachi Shougen_..."

Espio continued to read for the next half hour, bringing to life the bombastic story of rival ninja clans destroying each other behind the backs of their leaders. He did sound effects, made creative commentary, and when Charmy would ask if something the characters did was possible, he would answer truthfully. Much to Charmy's dismay, most of the things the ninjas did were impossible.

Finally, the book ended and Espio placed it back in the pile. "Woah, that was SOOOOO COOOOOL..." Charmy said in awe, playing with Espio's spiraled tail a bit.

"It was certainly something" Espio said sarcastically, still upset about a few details of combat that the author's clearly knew nowhere near as much as Espio. As he reached for a completely different comic, Charmy stayed silent for a moment, thinking hard about something. Before Espio could get started with the new comic, one about mutated teenage tortoises who just so happened to be kung-fu masters as well, Charmy asked something. Something that completely derailed Espio's train of thought.

"Hey Espio, do ya think I could be a cool ninja like you someday?" he looked up at the magenta man, his hands still holding fast to Espio's swirling tail. The sheer suddenness of the question froze Espio, his mouth slightly agape as he stared at Charmy's expecting face.

He didn't even know. He didn't even know what being a "cool ninja like him" meant. A painful reminder of how completely foreign the boy's perception of ninja was compared to the real thing. Espio's past flashed in his mind's eye, cruel, gruesome images he had always hoped he would forget someday, but knew he never could. The innocent child didn't even know what he had gone through... how much pain he caused everyone... all the death... The kid didn't even know.

He looked to comic books, the works of fiction created by people so far removed from the true horror of the ninja lifestyle, they glamorized it. Lying to the world that this was a life worth admiring, worth reverence... What a joke... Espio regained his composure, his earlier smile deflated into a tight line of stoic reservation.

"I believe you are already... a more honorable person than any ninja, _boku no koz_ _ō_ "

* * *

 _ **I just wanted to lay some foundation for some things that'll come way way later and ease that tension from the previous chapter of Espio's story. The manga that Espio reads is an actual manga and anime series about ninjas and stuff. I know I could have just put Naruto in there, but Naruto is very much the opposite of how ninjas really fight and I don't think Espio would be able to read past the 4th page of the book XDDDD So Basilisk seemed like a better choice for his character.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed it, because I'm ramping things up next time! Stay tuned for Chapter 25! C:**_


	16. Charmy and the reunion

_**Hey there, this is a continuation of Chapter 14. So if you haven't read that yet, I suggest you do so to avoid spoilers. (If that type of thing matters to you) You have been warned, proceed at your own risk. (seriously though, I don't think being spoiled is that big a deal but whatever XDDDD)**_  
 _ **So last time, we saw the end of Lil' Louie's terror on the Chaotix Detective Agency. And now that one visitor is gone, prepare to meet two new/old ones! This one's been in the works for a long time, eager readers, I hope you enjoy! X3333**_

* * *

"MIGHTY! RAY! HOW THE HECK ARE YA?!" Vector bellowed, rushing toward the long lost duo standing in the Chaotix's doorway. Espio was right beside him, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"This is certainly a welcomed surprise! I am so glad you've returned!" Espio greeted warmly, bowing to Mighty and preparing to bow to Ray next as Vector reached out to Mighty. A loud thud sounded as the armadillo dropped the pile of luggage he held in one hand effortlessly and he reached out to the two reptiles swiftly.

"C'mere you two!" he shouted as he heartily pulled both men into his impossibly strong arms for a vice-like embrace. Before either detectives could form a word, they found their feet were dangling above the ground, for Mighty had curled back a bit and lifted their combined weight with ease.

"Woah hahahaha! Still stronger than Hercules I see!" chuckled Vector, as he patted Mighty's head gingerly, Espio merely looked away, awkwardly awaiting for his body to be freed from the red shelled mammal's grip. He didn't have to wait long at all, with a satisfying grunt, Mighty returned his companions to the floorboards. Ray plopped his few belongings on the wooden floorboards and turned to Espio.

" _Konichiwa_ , Espio-san!" the golden furred squirrel greeted as he bowed respectfully. The older chameleon stared in surprise, before melting into a soft smile and returning the gesture. After waiting the appropriate amount of time, they both straightened back to their normal height. "It's so great to see you guys! We missed ya so much!" he continued, holding Espio's hands with a gentle, but firm touch.

"We have also missed you both! Come, tell us your exploits across the globe!" the magenta chameleon motioned to the couch, as he removed his hands from Ray's and moved to the kitchen, hoping he still had some tea saved from the insatiable intern they'd driven off only moments before Mighty and Ray arrived.

"Hey, where's the little guy? Gosh, I haven't seen him in forever, he's gotta be halfway grown up by now!" Mighty said, his excitement clear.

"OH! That's right! CHARMYYYY, YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHO'S HERE! COME DOWN!" called Vector exuberantly, throwing his head upward to send his command up the stairs.

"Vector, hey!" Ray's excited voice exclaimed as he leaped into the unsuspecting crocodile's massive chest. Vector simply chuckled and curled a large arm around the young boy clutching his shoulders.

"There's my little gardener! How ya doing, champ!?" with a quick tug, the emerald detective was holding the bubbly Ray at arms length, studying the yellow mammal from head to toe. "Wow, you're getting a little taller now, huh?" he surmised.

Ray shyly rubbed his nose with a stout finger as he giggled. "Hee hee, not as tall as you!" His wide eyes peeked open as he took in the Chaotix's cluttered downstairs. "It's so good to be home again! I mean, the world is SUCH a big and exciting place, but... there really is no place like home..." Ray sighed, a content grin on his face. Vector put him down and Ray took a few comfortable steps toward the living room, inhaling the familiar scent of home in a deep awkward sniff.

"You can say that again, bud. Jeez, this place looks almost exactly the same!" Mighty commented, looking around wistfully. That is, until he realized how disheveled the rooms were. "You know, minus the uh... mess" the armadillo added, as he nervously giggled under his breath. There were papers everywhere, the living room had been turned upside down, and as Mighty leaned over, he could see glimpses of a kitchen with the ceiling fan dangling precariously from its perch and a table knocked over uncouthly. He had several theories on how the place got so unkempt, but held off on asking questions.

"Oh yeah..." Vector looked around embarrassed, Espio reappeared just in time to join the sheepish display. "You were always the den mother around here, Mighty, what did you expect would happen when you left?" the colossus joked, inciting laughter from his long lost compatriot.

"Hahahahaha! I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, huh?!" the red shelled man jabbed playfully as he and Vector laughed and joked more.

But Ray perked up at their discussion and reached out. "Oh, that reminds me, Espio, have you-?"

"Watered your garden while you were gone? Absolutely." the chameleon finished. "Though I have to admit, my skills are limited to just that. When it came time to trim them... I was a bit overwhelmed" he admitted, avoiding eye contact for a moment.

"I told you over the phone, that's okay! I love trimming them myself anyways!" the golden furred boy reassured with a smile.

"So Ray! Did you bring back some-?" Vector started.

"You know I did Vector! All the fresh produce is outside, waiting to be planted into the backyard. You'll be having lots of free, home grown food from now on!" Ray proudly declared as he pointed a thumbs up at his bulky comrade, who was grinning widely at the smaller squirrel.

"Yeah and it'll be home cooked too!" Everyone turned to where Mighty stood, only to realize he had disappeared and slipped into the kitchen in the blink of an eye. "I can see by all the fast food and frozen tv dinners that you guys haven't exactly learned your way around an oven since we left!" he playfully teased as he started throwing trash in a garbage bag.

The reunited friends made their way to the living room, adjacent to the kitchen as Vector responded. "Espio tried to make some potstickers a couple of times. Too bad they're still stuck to the pots! HAHAHAHAHA!" he bellowed crude laughs directly in Espio's ear, while the ninja steeled his face into a stoic glare.

"I do know how to cook some things, Vector. And at least I'm trying. What's your excuse, hmm?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"I make a mean piece of toast!" the crocodile snapped and pointed at the magenta reptile with the "coolest" obnoxious grin he could muster. Which only made Ray double over in laughter, while Mighty nearly dropped to the kitchen floor in cackling glee.

"You two are too much!" Ray managed to sigh out as he wiped a happy tear from the corner of his eye. A loud gasp exploded from the stairs, drawing everyone's attention on whoever was incredibly shocked.

"OH MY GOSH, IT'S YOU GUYS!" Charmy screamed, his surprised enthusiasm causing his tiny body to vibrate in sheer joy.

"Charmy!" Ray called out elated.

"Oh! There he is!" Mighty shouted exuberantly as he immediately ran to the living room to see the rambunctious bee. Instantly, Charmy tackled them both as hard as he could, wrapping one arm around Mighty's shoulders and one around Ray's head. The two could hardly get their arms up in time to reciprocate the impromptu hug, but nevertheless, they melted in their youngest friend's powerful embrace.

"Ooooooooh, Mighty, Ray!" the bumblebee hummed, squeezing the duo as hard as he could without hurting them (too badly). "I missed you guys so much! I thought you were never, ever, NEVER comin' back!" he cried, tears of gladness beginning to flow down his cheeks. and Ray looked at each other, before shrugging and

"What, and never get to wrestle with you again?! No way, big guy!" Mighty warmly said, patting the frantic arthropod's back.

"We meant to call more but most of our locations didn't exactly have that commodity... or reception for that matter..." Ray timidly replied, rubbing soothing circles on Charmy's shoulder. Finally, the toddler's mighty grip was released and he beamed a bright smile at the returned duo. Mighty and Ray silently took in Charmy, happy to see he hadn't changed much since the last time they were together. The small bee inhaled a long breath as they stared at him and held it for a moment before unleashing a torrent of words at them.

"Tell me EVERYTHING! Did you climb mountains?! Did you fall off of waterfalls?! Did you jump into volcanos!? Did you get chased by G.U.N. in a foreign metropolis with weird alleys and rooftops!? Did you live on a farm?! Did you get married to a spy and then fought her so she couldn't use your top secret information to blow up our country?! Did you see the world's largest rubber band ball?!"

Mighty patted Charmy's head, causing the boy to pause his assault of questions. "Hahahaha, he's as excitable as ever!" he said, looking to Ray.

"Dare I say, more so!" the squirrel chuckled, genuinely impressed at the amount of words he managed to say in one breath. Large hands grabbed Charmy and pulled him out of Mighty and Ray's personal space, despite the insect's squirming.

"Let 'em breathe, squirt!" Vector chided, though he was smiling as well.

"But! But, but, but, I want to knooooow!" whined Charmy, pulling on Vector's snout for emphasis. But nimble hands plucked Charmy from Vector's grasp and gently pulled the young bug's face in front of Espio's.

"As do we, so let's sit down and allow them to actually tell us, little one" he instructed before letting Charmy go and motioning for him to sit down somewhere.

"We've been DYING to tell you guys everything!" Ray exclaimed, bouncing in his newfound seat on the couch. "Oooooh, what should we tell them about first Mighty?!" he asked, looking up at Mighty, who had yet to sit down, opting to stand boldly before his teammates.

The armadillo snapped his fingers, inspired. "I got the perfect story! Brace yourselves gentlemen, it's about to get crazy..." he warned, causing everyone to get pumped up, even Ray edged forward. After a moment of silence, Mighty flung his hands forward dramatically.

"THERE WE WERE, IN THE FOREST OF INFAMY: THE ONE AND ONLY WOOD FOREST ZONE!" he announced, making Espio and Vector's mouth plummet to the floor.

"WOAH, DAT PLACE EXISTS?!" Vector yelled more than asked.

 _"Sugoi..."_ breathed Espio, his eyes wide with surprise. Charmy, sitting on the floor between Vector and Espio on the couch, looked between everyone for a moment.

"... what's that?" the helmet clad boy asked innocently.

"It's this incredible forest that- you know what, I'll just let Mighty tell it!" Ray chimed in before pointing to Mighty, who was flinging into his next pose.

"The trees had trunks thicker than 4 city blocks and taller than even the tallest skyscrapers!" Mighty stretched his arms as wide as he could, then shot them up as tall as he could, deeply invested in reflecting the situation through his body as well as his words. "And the vastness of it was just... impossible... I mean wow, what a place to behold! And on top of that, up in the trees were a tribe of Koalas who had made homes in the ginormous trees!" he revealed, jumping on top of Vector's recliner and spreading his arms apart like he was pulling back curtains.

"Shut. Up." the green reptile incredulously exclaimed.

"Treehouses?!" shouted Espio, uncharacteristically enthralled.

"No way!" the young bee shouted, his eyes practically shining.

"They were so intricate and so detailed it was like an entire city suspended between the trees, it was incredible! They all got around with these ziplines made out of vines and-and-and branches!" Mighty explained, pretending to swing around as he leapt from recliner to television set, to a wall, and on top of the couch.

"And they had these sort of leaves that would expel oxygen at an accelerated rate, which made the leaves, when they fell, float the people in the air! It was almost like low gravity up there!" Ray added excitedly.

"You guys were FLOATING?!" the enormous Vector asked disbelieving.

"Well, I mean it doesn't sound so amazing when you're a flying squirrel or a bee," Mighty mentioned, as he flipped off the couch and back to his place in front of the couch. "but for an armadillo like myself, it was an experience let me tell you!"

"Leaves that can make one float..?" the perplexed shinobi questioned, Ray turning his attention to him.

"Yeah, in fact I took some of those plants from the forest so I can start growing them here and you guys can try them out for yourselves!" he pointed a gloved hand at the box he had in his arms when he and Mighty first entered.

"But anyway! We climbed up the trees the old fashioned way and little did we know that the Koalas were even up there at all!" the armadillo shrugged comically as he pretended to climb the air. "So they see us coming up their trees and assume the worst, next thing we know, they've got us surrounded!" he shrieked, spinning around and acting like he was living the story.

"Oh crap!" shouted Charmy, feeling like he was right in the thick of it next to Mighty.

"Yeah, that's what I said, it was super scary! They had bows and arrows and spears and daggers, it was incredibly terrifying!" commented Ray, shuddering at the memory and visibly deflating a bit as Mighty went on.

"One of them was trying to threaten us to leave, but I told them 'we're just explorers, we didn't come here to encroach on your home'. But they don't understand a word I'm saying so I asked Ray if he could translate-" Ray got excited again and chimed in.

"They spoke in a very ancient language, something that I could not for the life of me decipher as either latin or keltic or an early version of french! I was jumping between the 3 trying to form a sentence!" he chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

"Apparently he was too slow figuring it out, because they launched like a dozen arrows at him!" Mighty said, pretending to fling arrows at the Chaotix.

"A dozen?!" the three detectives asked in unison. Mighty nodded vigorously before continuing.

"Naturally, your's truly leaped into action and shielded my buddy from their first attack" the energetic armadillo jumped across the room again, pretending to shield an imaginary Ray. "But once they saw my resistance, the spear dudes came in, fire in their eyes!" he pointed at his eyes as he snarled ferociously. "We took some vines and started swinging our way out of their range, the suckers were hot on our heels though!" the hyperactive mammal bounced around the room, giving off the appearance of swinging.

As he moved, the story resumed. "So we were ducking and diving and grabbing onto whatever we could to keep the arrows and spears from turning our lights out permanently, Ray's screaming at the top of his lungs in every language under the sun while I start to throw some spears back at them!" he spun in the middle of a jump and flung a lamp through the air, before jumping after it and catching it before it could land.

"That's so awesome!" Vector and Charmy cheered together, while Espio nodded in agreement.

"Finally, one of them was fed up and he used a vine as support, to run across the trunk of an incoming tree to head me off as I was swingin' past!" Mighty mimicked the motion by running on the walls, careful to avoid the decor. "As soon as he rounded that trunk, I knew I was hit!" he pretended to get slammed in the face and fell to the floor skillfully, avoiding real injury. "And man, he packed a wallop for a little guy!" he huffed as he jumped back to his feet.

"So there I am, still swinging, still shouting in every language I knew, looking for where Mighty went, when I see him fall past me with the Koala trying to claw his eyes out!" Ray said, feigning a look of horror for a moment, before Mighty picked the story back up.

"Heh, 'try' is the operative word there. As you can see, completely scar free eyes" he motioned to his face, giving a debonaire smirk. "I'll admit he was a challenge for a second, but all it took was a flick of my index" Mighty flicked his finger. "and he was flyin' across the forest like a jet airplane..." then launched himself across the room again.

"When the rest of the Koala's saw that, they kind of paused for a minute like, 'Was that one of our guys?!' and that's when I finally got the chance to use my growth accelerant spray on the vines they were grabbing onto. Within seconds, the vines grew so long, so fast, that the Koala's were basically dropping out of the sky at terminal velocity!" the bubbly squirrel proceeded, feeling just a little proud of himself for his past deeds.

"Terminal what?" Charmy asked, tilting his head to the side.

"That means they were about to go splat" a fist slammed into a palm loudly, getting everyone's attention back on Mighty. "Luckily for them, Ray's a nice kid. He dropped a couple of these trampoline plants that bounced them right back where they were" he pretended to be sprung back up from the ground, "Unfortunately for them, I wasn't feeling too nice right then" he jabbed a thumb at his chest brazenly.

"So did you-?" Espio and Charmy started.

"I spin jumped the heck out of those mooks!" Swiftly, Mighty curled into a ball as he leapt into the kitchen. He quickly stuck his head back into the living room and resumed. "They didn't know what hit 'em! I wasn't exactly proud of it, but they were chuckin' sharp sticks at my friend. I couldn't let that stand" he shrugged nonchalantly.

"O' course!" the enormous crocodile pounded his chest for emphasis.

"There had to be like 50 of them and not one of them was willing to stand up after me 'n Ray gave 'em the ol' 1-2 knock out!" the red shelled mammal quickly punched at the air, as if he was boxing, impressing Charmy thoroughly.

"It was all very thrilling... much too thrilling for me personally," Ray spoke up again, anxiously fondling his large tail. "but as you can see Mighty had a good time!" he brightened up as he pointed to his best friend.

"Yeah I did! Then after ALL OF THAT! Ray finally starts speaking their language!" laughed Mighty.

"Turns out it was a form of pig-latin only they swapped english words with keltic words. So...pig-keltic"

"Yeah that! And he ends up telling them, y'know," Mighty puts his hand up and uses his fingers to count. "who we are, what we're doing there, and that we weren't tryin' to disrupt them, we didn't even know they were up there! Turns out the chief comes down from one of the vines and says 'WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?' " he put his hands on his hips and did a strange little dance, adding in a funny voice on the fly.

"You gotta be kiddin' me! BWAHAHAHAHA!" Vector bellowed uncontrollably, Charmy right behind him with high pitched squealing.

"Pfff hahahahaha!" Espio joined in the laughter, thanks in no small part to Charmy and Vector's infectious howling. Everyone was in a fit of giggling and chuckling, while Mighty tried to regain his composure enough to finish the story.

"I mean, he just- hahahaha!" he unexpectedly fell on his knees as the laughter took hold again. "He- he- just said, 'well in that case, hello my name is chief What-Cha-Want-Ta and this is my tribe. Please come over to our top secret treehouse of awesomeness'! Hahahaha!" his strength left him and he plopped on the floor completely, curling in on himself.

"Frankly I was just happy the whole "we're going to kill you" thing was over! Hahahahaha!" Ray laughed, but after a moment, groaned nervously at the memory of running, or rather, swinging for his life.

"So we go to his treehouse and he tells us all about the history of their tribe and how they stayed alive all this time and it was really fascinating!" Mighty said, finally overcoming his laughing fit. From then on, the two world travelers relayed the detailed past of the treetop Koalas. They had the three detectives eating out of the palm of their hands, they laughed, they cheered, they cried (Charmy did, at least), and it was a fantastic story for all of them to enjoy.

After Mighty and Ray finished their dazzling tale of adventure in an exotic land, it was nearly breakfast. Mighty, knowing how badly his three companions missed his cooking, demanded he cook, while Espio assisted him and Vector began cleaning as best he could. Ray decided to carry his luggage to his and Mighty's room, with Charmy offering to help him take all their stuff upstairs. The two boys worked seamlessly, like they had never spent anytime apart. Within a half hour, Mighty and Ray were all settled in.

"Well, that's it for the junk and souvenirs!" Ray announced, clapping his hands together to rid them of dust and dirt. "Now all we have to do is get all my new plants to the garden. Let's go, Charmy" the golden squirrel quickly walked out the door, but noticed that Charmy had remained still. He reentered the bedroom, studying Charmy's expression to see what had kept him in place.

"Charmy? You okay, man?" he asked tentatively. The young bee stood straight as a board, fiddling with his hands a bit, and staring at the floorboards between him and the older boy awaiting his reply.

"Ray..." he called nervously, making Ray even more worried. He couldn't remember Charmy being nervous about anything before. "Are- are you guys gonna go away again?" he finished, still not looking up, for fear of what Ray would say. The question hit the young botanist like a freight train, but he supposed it shouldn't have.

They had been gone so long, rarely called, and never wrote. Even before that, they were only in the Chaotix Detective Agency for a few weeks before he and Mighty decided to finally pursue their dream to travel the world. It was spectacular and a once in a lifetime experience and he wouldn't trade it for anything.

Except... he hadn't accounted for how it would affect the people they left behind. He had thought about it before, plenty of times, but he never really focused on their feelings and how they were processing life without them. Perhaps Charmy really wasn't sure they would ever return, but even if they had, surely he would have thought they would just disappear again. It pained Ray to see Charmy like this, he never meant to cast a shadow of doubt in his mind.

So silently, he walked up to the small winged boy and wrapped him in a tender hug, cuddling the worried bee. Charmy, surprised by the sudden act, eventually clutched onto his long lost friend, who he'd missed dearly. And finally Ray, with a focused mind and a earnest heart, responded to the innocent child's heavy question.

"You don't have to worry, Charmy. We're here to stay..."

* * *

 _ **Wow, that was a sappy ending. XDDD But I really wanted to hammer home how important the addition of Might and Ray are to me, personally. It really will be a great, welcomed change, and I hope everyone likes the way I'll portray them because as I've said before: This Mighty and Ray are not Archie's version, nor Mania's version, nor any other continuity's version of the dynamic duo. These guys are born from my interpretation of their SegaSonic the Hedgehog and Knuckle's Chaotix versions, with some added flare from One Piece characters and my own quirky headcanons about them. So yeah, hope you enjoyed because I'm gonna continue to keep them in the spotlight with our main trio. 'Till the next chapter, stay cool, peeps! C:**_

 _ **If you want more information about My version of Mighty and Ray, check out a separate fic of mine called Charmy Nonsense Important Information. It's more of a set of notes for eager readers like you to read and be updated on stuff in the stories. ^v^**_


	17. Charmy and the Card Game

There they sat, around the shoddy kitchen table, a pile of face up cards haphazardly laid in front of a neat stack of face down cards. The group of young men eyed each other from the hands they were dealt, each one careful to keep their cards a secret from the other. As the condensation from their drinks formed rings of water damage on the table, everyone sat frozen with pent up anticipation. They'd been sitting for nearly 10 minutes now, all of them planned their next 4 moves at this point, save Charmy who was more concerned with the different squeaks he could make by shifting his weight in his cheap folding chair.

The young insect slowly rocked forward and back, side to side, all around on his seat, making an awkward melody of metallic creaks, while everyone else simply stared at each other, hoping for something interesting to appear, breaking the mundane atmosphere that had enveloped the detective team... and Mighty. Vector's head bobbed and his thick fingers tapped the table rhythmically, no doubt in harmony with the beat of his music, which could be heard by everyone at the table due to the stale silence of the room.

Mighty, similar to Charmy's inability to sit still, decided to lean his chair back with his legs to see just how far he could push himself back in a precarious position without falling. It was a lot more entertaining than just sitting doing nothing, waiting for the game to continue. The bold armadillo would quickly shift between being perfectly balanced and nearly falling on his butt within a second. He was having a little too much fun with this innocuous task, the opposite of his best friend Ray, who at the moment, was just struggling to stay awake.

The poor squirrel had stayed up all night tending to his garden and getting the more delicate plants to stay healthy. So the chestnut headed boy merely propped his head on his hand, his consciousness dipping in and out along with the dipping of his tired head. Everyone occupied themselves, waiting for something to finally happen. And sure enough, their patience paid off.

"The color is now blue" Espio said, taking the messy stack and straightening it up, revealing the change color card to be the last card laid down. The entire table sighed in relief.

"Finally! God, Espio, were trying to decide the freaking fate of the galaxy too?!" Mighty shouted, as he slapped a blue card down, messing up the pile once again.

"Yeah, were you trying to find out how to build a rocket to the moon?" Ray added, placing a blue card on top of Mighty's.

"Pfft, I already did that" Charmy coyly said, putting another card on the pile.

Ray shot his attention to Charmy. "You did?!"

Vector flung a card on the pile as he spoke up. "He means Tails did- why would ya think he knows how ta do dat?" he squinted at Ray, who sheepishly looked away.

Charmy kicked the table lightly, pushing him away from it so he can stand on his chair and glare up at Vector. "Hey, I know stuff!" he declared, jabbing a thumb in his chest.

"Oh yeah? What's 10 x 10, pipsqueak?" the emerald detective asked, knowing the toddler couldn't answer. But that didn't stop the bee from responding.

"I said I know stuff, not math, cheater!"

"It's 100" Ray chimed in, casually.

"See, it's 100. I know stuff" the small arthropod tapped his helmet with his finger, as if the action would convince Vector that he was indeed a mathematician the whole time. But the massive crocodile rolled his eyes and pushed Charmy's chair back in, causing the boy to plop back down in his seat and pick his cards back up.

"Whateva, I'm jus' glad we're back on track. But seriously, Esp," the large reptile turned to his right, where the calm chameleon contemplated his next move. "for cryin' out loud, ya couldn't have decided the color faster?"

Espio waited a moment before answering, as he plucked a card from his hands and examined it. "I like to think carefully before I act. Do not try to make me feel ashamed for that just because you like to rush through everything without a second thought"

"At least when we rush through something, it's done and we can move on with life." chided the red shelled mammal sitting beside him. "While we were waiting for you to get your head outta your butt, I could have been working on my moves" he punched the air playfully as he resumed his balancing act.

"I could have been unconscious and wrapped in a warm comforter" the parmesan-yellow squirrel sighed longingly as he slumped his head atop his cards resting on the table.

"I could have been knowing more stuff!" the helmet clad boy said, resuming the smug tapping to his temple while slowly turning to eye Vector.

"Drop it, kid" the scaly colossus ordered without looking up from his cards. A small huff was Charmy's response, his hand dropping to the table, shaking it enough to make the snoozing Ray launch himself upright, mumbling incoherent questions while everyone chuckled at him, save Espio. He was still debating which card he should place down, a fact that everyone was becoming painfully aware of once again.

"Well, I regret nothing. As the saying goes: Slow and steady wins the race" the lean ninja said, narrowing his choices down to 2 cards.

"HA! Tell that to Sonic" Mighty joked, as his chair returned to its normal position.

"Naw, it'll make his spiky lil' head explode!" Vector howled, sending everyone else doubling over in laughter for a second. Even Espio couldn't contain his chuckles at the comment, the mental image of Sonic, the Blue Blur, trying to comprehend such a concept made their sides split.

"Ha ha ha! Why would his head explode?! Ha ha ha!" Charmy innocently added, tickling everyone even more than before. No one had a moment to catch their breath as Mighty suddenly stopped laughing and fell from his chair, yelping awkwardly as a loud thud rocked the kitchen. Everyone exploded with chortles, Ray struggling for air as he attempted to form a sentence.

"Ch-Charmy... it's... it's an... expressio-"

"Don't" Vector managed to get out.

"What, I'm... I'm just... sayin-"

"Don't waste yer time, Ray" he waved off. Slowly, everyone got back to their seats, regained their composure and settled back into the game. Where Espio had yet to put a card down, once again.

"Dude"

"Silence, Mighty. I'm being slow and steady"

"Come oooooooonnnnn..." groaned the exasperated bee as he mimicked Mighty's balancing chair act.

"The more noise you make, the more time it will take me to decide, Little One..." the chameleon calmly answered, still not taking his eyes off of his cards.

"Ta hell wit dat," Vector murmured under his breath before clearing his throat and pointing his finger in the air. "New rule, boys: Ya got 30 seconds ta place a card down or ya get skipped"

"You can't just introduce a new rule in the middle of the game, Vector!" Espio protested.

"All those 'n favor 'o da new rule?" Vector raised his hand proudly.

"I!" Mighty boldly shot a hand up.

"I..." Ray poked a hand up, never lifting his head from the table.

"End thiiiiiiiiiissssssss..." Charmy moaned, slowly lifting his hand to add to the drama.

"Well, dere ya have it. Ya got 30 seconds, slow-n-steady" grinned the clever sleuth. The shinobi warrior next to him stared at his boss coldly.

"29... 28... 27..." the crocodile counted smugly, causing Espio to sigh dryly and throw a card down.

"You shall pay for this injustice..." pouted the ninja, as he crossed his arms and sulked.

"Not before I win this game, HA!" Mighty shouted, throwing a card down. "Uno!"

"Sorry, Espio. Normally, I wouldn't agree to something like this but... dude, we've been here for 3 hours. I need sleep" Ray said, tossing a card on the pile. "Desperately..."

"He'll get over it" the yellow-striped child said absentmindedly, while flicking a card on the pile. "Draw 2, Big Boss! Oh, and Uno!"

"Argh, you two're leavin' us in da dust! How'd ya get so good at dis game?" Vector asked befuddled, snatching two face down cards, examining them, and growling in disappointment. Charmy nudged the enormous reptile and giggled mischievously as Vector glared daggers at him, before cracking a grin and slinging his arm around the playful boy.

"Whaddya think I do when ya tell me ta do work?" said the smiling arthropod under his arm.

"Wait, what?" sharp yellow eyes shot at Charmy curiously.

"Uh, isn't your turn? C'mon ya got like 15 seconds, Vector!"

"Oh right, da color's," Vector slammed a color change card on the table. "yellow now, suckas"

"HA! It's over! Mighty's winnin' this one!" the exuberant armadillo cheered as he clutched his final card.

"Heh heh heh... you seem to forgot that I have Uno too, Mighty" Charmy said, holding up his card. The dawn of realization crossed the red-shelled teen's face and he instantly felt the adrenaline rush of determination rushing through him. A wide smirk curled his lips, forming an intense grin on his face.

"Alright, kiddo... it's you and me now" Mighty said in a menacing tone, while he and Charmy continued to lock themselves into a stare down. The air between them seemed to crackle and pulsate with seething ferocity bubbling inside of the two combatants.

"Espio, 30 seconds" Vector reminded, tentatively.

"I'm aware of the forced time limit, thank you" the exasperated martial artist said, oblivious to the tense energy surrounding the once innocent table of friends. "Be silent and let me think..."

As Espio took every second to think about his next play, Charmy and Mighty refused to blink, for if either of them did, it would be an admission of defeat. An unspoken rule, but one they both inexplicably knew. Ray could have sworn someone turned up the heat in the room, in fact he looked around to the thermostat on the wall behind him. To his horror, no one had adjusted the temperature by standard means; the pastel yellow boy realized that it was simply due to the raging competitive spirit blazing within Mighty and Charmy that ignited the atmosphere as if their was a campfire atop the table.

A nervous sweat permeated through his fur as he darted his eyes over to Vector, who also looked quite tense. But Ray could tell it was because he was excited for the outcome of this surprisingly extreme showdown between his friends, unlike Ray's tense feeling which stemmed from a general dislike of confrontation in general. So as Mighty and Charmy turned up the heat, poor Ray prayed that 30 seconds would end soon and he could be fade into sweet, sweet unconscious bliss. And as if on cue, the magenta reptile plucked one of the two cards he had left and moved it across the table.

Everyone, including Mighty and Charmy, shifted their attention to the chameleon's hand calmly placing the decisive card on the pile, their breath hitched in their throats. Espio, in an effort to express his distaste with the new rule, didn't allow the face of the card to be revealed until after he put it on the pile, leaving his teammates yearning for clarity until the very last moment. It could be Charmy's win, it could be Mighty's, it could be no one's at all, but Espio denying them that answer drove the detectives (and Mighty) to the edge of their seats. What would it be? Who would the scales be tipped in favor of? Why was Espio moving his hand so slowly?!

Finally, he revealed his card in a smooth flip of his wrist. Snatching the breath away from everyone at the table. "Uno"

Espio's card was, in fact, another color change card.

"What?!" shouted Mighty, so loud and suddenly everyone, save Espio, leaped back from flinching so hard.

"The color is now..." the ninja said, shooting a nonchalant look toward Mighty. "RED"

"Oooooooh! Thanks Espio!" Charmy cried, throwing himself at the clever teenager and wrapping his arms around him. Mighty's jaw hit the floor, while Ray just nervously shifted in his seat. Vector, eyes wide with shock, simply stared at Espio, highly impressed.

"You're welcome, _kozo_ " Espio chuckled lightly, patting the toddler's helmet and pulling him off.

Mighty slammed his fist through the table, a large crunch sounded off in response as the table jostled from the impact. "You intentionally helped Charmy while putting me at a disadvantage?! HOW!?" he demanded, veins popping out of his head.

Espio crossed his arms before answering. "How could I, the one person at this table that thinks for a long time before putting a card down, have known which card would help Charmy and hurt you?" Mighty continued to glare at him, huffing out breaths like a raging bull. "It's a mystery for the ages, my friend" he finished, raising an eye ridge with a knowing smirk.

"You smug little- Ray! Buddy!" Mighty yanked his hand from the table and reached out to his young friend. "Help me out here, man!" he beseeched.

"Dat's right, Ray. It's yer turn. Ya got 30 seconds, kid" reminded Vector, as if he was a spectator at a wrestling match.

"Uh..." Ray looked between Mighty and Vector's expectant faces, the weight of his situation bearing down on him.

"No, Ray! Help me out!" Charmy poked between the two older men and pressed his hands together in a begging motion.

"25 seconds!" Vector announced.

"Uhhhh..." the weight on the poor squirrel doubled once all eyes were on him.

"I'm countin' on ya, man! You're my best friend, we're in this together! Let's win this thing!" the armadillo said, clasping a hand on Ray's back.

"20 seconds!" shouted the crocodile.

"Uhhhhhh..."

"Ray, you can't play favorites! Besides, we're closer in age than that old geezer Mighty!" Charmy instructed, brushing off Mighty.

"15 seconds!"

"Uhhhhhhhhh..."

Mighty jabbed a finger at the insolent bee. "Hey! I'm closer to his age than you, brat!" quickly, he turned back to Ray and put a tender hand on his shoulder. "Ray, look at me, I need this buddy!"

"10 SECONDS!"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh..." Ray felt the nervous sweat cascade down his forehead as his wide eyes darted between everyone and everything.

"I need it more!" Charmy shouted.

"5!"

"COME ON, RAY!"

"UHHHHHHHHHH-"

"4!"

"DON'T MESS THIS UP FOR ME!"

"HHHHH-"

"3!"

"I WANT TO WIN, DUDE!"

"HHHHH-"

"2!"

"I'LL TAKE YOU OUT FOR ICE CREAM!"

"HHHHHH-"

"1!"

"I'LL DO YOUR CHORES FOR A WEEK!"

"HHHHHH-"

"30 SECONDS ARE UP!" Vector bellowed, pulling a microphone from somewhere and lifting his head to the ceiling dramatically.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" the defeated armadillo cried, dropping to his knees and looking to the sky.

"RAY IS OFFICIALLY SKIPPED!" the crocodile detective shouted, running around the table.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Charmy cackled as he followed Vector, flying laps around the table. Ray went to the floor to console Mighty, who hadn't stopped shouting no to the sky, while Espio sat tranquilly amidst the madness and sipped his steaming tea.

The herculean mammal twirled around to look at the friend who aided in his downfall. "FOR GAIA'S SAKE, WHY DIDN'T YOU PLAY A CARD, MAN?!"

Ray, completely anxious and confused, curled in on himself, trying to hide behind his massive tail. "I'M SORRY, I JUST WANT SLEEEEEEEEEP!"

"UNOOOOOOOOOO..." Charmy called, as he finished his final victory lap and raised his last card in the air, nearly hitting the ceiling fan. "OUT!" In an instant, he slammed it down on the table, smashing it the rest of the way and sending everything on the table, drinks, cards, salt and pepper shakers, across the entire kitchen.

"IMPOSSIBLLLLLLLE!" the red shelled teenager wailed dramatically, recoiling from the table as if he'd been hit by Charmy's powerful slam.

"OHHHHH, DA SQUIRT IS DA WINNERRRRRR!" cheered the emerald scaled man as he lifted Charmy's arm in the air.

"Congratulations, _ko_ " Espio said clapping.

Mighty doubled over and slammed his fist to the floor, denting it. "I WAS SO CLOSE!"

"Well, I hate ta break it ta ya, but..." Vector sheepishly pulled out one of his cards and slapped it on the floor where the table used to be. It was a draw 4 card. Mighty clutched his chest like he was shot through the heart.

"BETRAYAL ON ALL SIDEEEEEEES!"

 ** _As you can see, I had way too much fun with this one X'DDDD_**


	18. Charmy and the Clockwork Maze

_**Guess who's a college graduate now? ^^**_

* * *

"... charmy..." a small voice called in the darkness. The unconscious bee stirred in his sleep, trying to brush off the beckoning voice. He was so sleepy, so comfortable. In fact, he couldn't remember how he had gone to sleep, but he didn't care. He was in a bliss dream about ice cream and rollercoasters and everything his hyperactive heart could long for.

"... Charmy..." rang the voice again, louder this time. Round cheeks scrunched up at its return, a moan escaped the mouth of the usually rambunctious child who tried to shift around to get more comfortable. When he moved to his side a bit, he realized something odd. Unlike every other time someone tried to wake him from sleep, his head was not atop a pillow that he could pull down over his ears to silence them. Nor was his body resting on his springy mattress, but curious still, was the fact that his helmet was still on his head.

He'd always taken it off before bed, why was it then still resting on his cranium? The voice continued to get louder and clearer as he pondered these things half consciously. Finally, a gentle jostle of his shoulders had catapulted Charmy back to reality. And he was greeted by the face of his worried comrade staring at him with wide eyes, before sighing in relief.

"Thank goodness you're okay! I was trying to wake you for a good while there, Charmy" Ray said, patting Charmy's helmet softly, as if the action helped calm him down. Before Charmy could ask why Ray was waking him up in the middle of the night, the young arthropod looked behind the golden squirrel and noticed something else odd.

Massive gears and mechanisms churned and turned systematically, making small clanking sounds as they went. The place they were in was sparsely lit, so he couldn't make out everything, but there were definitely a lot more mechanical parts moving in conjunction with the few he could see. The brass of the objects caught the sparse light and warmed the room in a bronze atmospheric glow; something was definitely wrong.

"We're in some serious trouble, man" Ray said, fearfully looking around at their ominous surroundings, yelping when a particularly loud hiss sound shot out. With a flutter of his wings, Charmy was airborne and surveying the situation, his tongue poking out of his lips as he thought hard about what was going on.

"Hmmm... it looks like... we got shrunk and shoved into a clock!" he reasoned. Ray gulped nervously at the idea.

"Really?! You-you-you think?! We're the size of mustard seeds now! We're gonna d-d-die, we're gonna get crunched into p-pieces by all this scary stuff! Oh man, oh man, oh man!" the squirrel shuddered as he curled in on himself. Charmy continued to explore, looking at the different machines pulling, turning, pushing and clanking away.

"This is actually kinda cool, heh heh! I never knew clocks had so much stuff in 'em!" commented the helmet clad boy as he sat on a particularly fast spinning gear, allowing it to take him for a short ride that blurred his surroundings. Sudden hands picked Charmy up by his face and placed him eye to eye with the anxious Ray.

"Stop having fun! This is serious!" he demanded, shaking the bee furiously. "Somebody must've knocked us out and brought us here and now they're gonna kill us! This is no laughing manner! We have to get out of here now!" Ray's eyes shot around the space, looking for a way out, but he found none. Just strange, unknown places obscured by large, heavy metal objects that just kept smashing into each other and slamming into other things.

Beads of sweat shot off of his head like fireworks as all the horrible things that could happen sprang to mind, making the young botanist release Charmy, who was now wobbling precariously. Ray's teeth chattered behind his chubby cheeks while his mind raced for a solution, but his anxiety wouldn't allow him to find one.

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we do..." chanted the parmesan furred boy while Charmy shook the stars dancing around his head and wandered to another section of the space, looking for any clue as to where the exit would be. A gentle breeze caressed his shoulder as he investigated a group of interconnected gears; the young bee knew their next course of action.

"Hey Ray! There's a way out over here, c'mon!" he shouted over the clanking machinery. Instantly, Ray swooped down from his perch and jumped up and down with excitement.

"Eh?! Really?! Where, where, where?!" asked Ray, whipping his head around expecting a giant exit sign over a door. Much to his dismay, Charmy instead pointed straight at a dangerous alternative.

"In here, past these big ol' gears" he innocently stated, his wide grin beaming with excitement. Vector would be so proud he managed to figure a way out all by himself. Ray lifted his chestnut head to the subject of his friend's excitement and immediately regretted it. The particular cogwheels in question were bigger and turning faster than all the others, the squirrel's imagination had already ran the numbers on how probable it was for them to make it through the small spaces available as the cogs turned. And he did not like the final calculations.

"Ummmm, let's look for another way out" was his timid response, confusing his younger comrade.

"Ray, this is the only way out. Let's go find the others" he said before flying quickly at the fleeting space between the gear teeth. But a hand grabbed onto his shoe and pulled him back just before he could reach it.

"O-or! We c-c-could let them find us?" the adolescent mammal weakly suggested, causing Charmy to pout in annoyance.

"The only way we're gettin' outta o' here is if we go through there, so stop being a baby, and let's move!" he demanded as he scooted the reluctant Ray toward the massive gears, their speed seemingly increased as he got closer to them. Ray struggled to find the words to convince Charmy to stop, but he settled for uneasy stammering. Anything to keep him from dying by clockwork.

"I-I-I-"

"That's the spirit!" Charmy cheered, smacking the squirrel with a strength he often forgot he had, launching Ray straight at the gear teeth. The poor boy screamed his lungs out as he fumbled into the space between the teeth, scrambled through before the teeth connected, and fell on his face on the other side. Ray's heart bombarded his chest rigorously as he scampered away from the gears with all his strength. Charmy shot through the space with no problem and landed safely on the other side, where Ray was currently losing his mind.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?! ARE YOU CRAZY?! I COULD HAVE DIED!"

"Psh! No way, I timed that all perfect and junk" the yellow striped boy said as coolly as he could.

Ray recoiled in shock. "You did?! How?!"

"It's just like a video game!"

"But I don't play video games!"

"Yeah, who's fault is that? I kept askin' ya if ya wanted ta play and you were all 'that's a good way to rot your brain, Charmy' " the hyperactive bee mocked Ray's voice "Well NOW who's got the rotten brain, huh?" he asked, an unamused pout on his face.

"B-B-But studies show that-"

"Ah ah ah! None of that, we ain't got time" Charmy said, clamping his hand over Ray's mouth. "We gotta find the others and get the heck outta here. So just follow my lead and we'll be right as rice!"

Ray moved the toddler's hand from his mouth and continued. "It's actually right as rain"

Charmy glared at him. "What'd I just say?"

"We... don't have time for that?" Ray responded sheepishly.

"Exactly, now let's go!" Charmy flew forward as Ray trailed behind him. All manner of traps were packed onto their path: conveyor belts set to different directions, heavy pendulums, at one point flamethrowers, for some reason. But thanks to Charmy's encyclopedic knowledge of video game traps, he and Ray made it through with little problems. Though Charmy had to repeatedly smack Ray at the opportune times to get him over his crippling fear of the traps and move them forward.

Finally, during a particularly nasty saw-blade trap, the two young detectives heard voices. Very familiar voices.

"Is that the guys?!" shouted Charmy, causing Ray, who had been seriously difficult to get through this trap, blast through the blades in pure glee.

"MIGHTY! VECTOR! ESPIO! WE'RE OVER HERE! HELP, SAVE US FROM THE TRAP!"

Charmy followed behind him, confusion masking his expression. "Uh, Ray, you already got out of-"

"RAY?! WHERE ARE YA!?" Mighty's voice shot through the industrial noise, strong and concerned.

"FOLLOW THE SOUND OF MY VOICE!" Ray instructed.

"KEEP TALKIN', BUDDY!"

"CHARMY, YOU GUYS HANG TIGHT, WE'LL GET YOU OUT OF THE TRAP!" Espio's voice instructed, less worried than Mighty and determined.

"No really, we're already-" Charmy tried.

"HURRY GUYS, I DON'T THINK WE CAN LAST MUCH LONGER!" the panicking Ray shouted, unaware of his surroundings.

"Do you really not understand that you're not in any danger right-?"

"CHARMY! PROTECT RAY, WE'RE ALMOST DERE!" Vector's voice bellowed, followed by a loud smash.

Charmy inhaled to attempt to once again try to get it through to Ray that he wasn't in the trap any longer, but deflated in exasperation. "... yeah, okay" he responded.

The loud smashes and crashes continued for a few seconds, before the large pipes blocking Charmy and Ray's path were lifted out of the way. The first thing they saw was the blessed sight of a red shelled armadillo, stepping out of the rubble and whipping his head around anxiously.

"MIGHTY!" Ray screamed happily as he launched himself into his friend's welcoming arms.

"RAY! Are you okay, bud?" the strong teenager asked, patting the squirrel's chestnut head soothingly, while Vector and Espio ran out of the space he opened up. "Here, let me look at you. Do your legs hurt? I'll carry you!" Mighty offered, as he looked his younger companion up and down.

"I'm actually fine-"

"I'll carry you! C'mon, here we go" Mighty insisted as he picked Ray up and placed him on his back like a backpack.

"Mighty, really, I'm okay" Ray giggled embarrassedly, while Espio knelt down and swallowed Charmy into a hug.

"Charmy! I am glad you and Ray are safe" the shinobi said, his worry melting as he held the excited boy.

"O' course da kid's safe! Dis place is nothin' fer him ta get through!" Vector mentioned as he rubbed Charmy's helmet clad head warmly, inciting a giggle from the young bee.

"Yeah! I know this place is supposed to be all deadly or whatever, but it's kinda fun!" Charmy said, throwing his arms up, as if he was trying to measure the amount of fun he was having. "It's almost like-"

"Playing a video game!" he and Mighty said simultaneously. As soon as they realized they said it at the same time, they exchanged an understanding look and high-fived, big smiles stretching across their faces.

"I don't think that's the case-" Espio started.

"I didn't think so either Espio! But Charmy's gotten us through these traps unscathed, so I believe him!" Ray chimed in from behind Mighty, where he was comfortably resting from the ordeal he'd been through. Espio simply looked between the two video gamers and shook his head. He would never understand the appeal of those distractions, but he supposed today proved they could be useful. Not that he would admit that to Charmy, doing so would invite the child to ignore all other responsibilities and obligations.

"Good to know you're all here!" a distorted voice exclaimed from speakers hidden all around the mysterious location, stealing everyone's attention.

"Who are you-?" Espio asked, kunai at the ready.

"You'll never know, criminals!" the voice boomed in a pixilated, artificial tone. The Chaotix looked between themselves at the comment.

"Criminals?" Mighty asked.

"You thought you could pull a fast one on me, but I am a brilliant genius! I saw you coming a mile away and trapped you in this clockwork maze! And you'll never leave alive! Mwahahaha!"

"Uh, I'm sorry, but where is here exactly?" asked the flying squirrel nestled on Mighty's back, his hand raised as if he was in a classroom.

"SILENCE!" the mastermind commanded.

"Oh okay" Ray shrank behind the armadillo fearfully.

"Ray! Don't just do what the bad guy tells ya to!" Mighty admonished, a little embarrassed. He cleared his throat and faced the nearest speaker. "HEY, PSYCHO! YOU BETTER LET US GO OR THINGS ARE GONNA GET REAL UNPLEASANT, REAL QUICK!" he warned.

"YEAH, DON'T YA KNOW WHO WE ARE?!" Charmy chimed in loudly. "WE'RE THE CHAOTIX, YA NUT BAR! AND WE'RE GONNA FIND YA AND KICK YOUR BUTT TO NEXT WEDNESDAY!" Once again, he and Mighty high-fived, neither of them taking their eyes off of the speaker as the mysterious voice responded.

"Big talk from a couple of filthy criminals caught in my complex trap. Oh whatever shall I do?" the mastermind said coyly. As Mighty and Charmy continued to shout at the speakers, Espio looked to Vector and spoke in a hushed tone.

"We're getting nowhere talking to this person, let's just search for an exit" he suggested.

"Whaddya think I'm doin' while Mighty and Charmy distract her?" the emerald croc said, as he scanned the area.

"Her? How do you know our captor is a female?" Vector stopped searching and turned to Espio, a shocked expression on his face.

"Ain't... ain't it obvious? Da lady's usin' a voice thing, 80% o' female criminals use a voice changer while only 30% o' men use it. Didn't ya know dat, Esp?" he asked confused. Espio scoffed at the question.

"Why would I know that?"

"Oh, no reason, I jus' thought maybe ya would, on account o' yer a detective. But dere's no way a detective would know dat kinda thing. My bad" the emerald scaled giant said sarcastically.

Espio jabbed his kunai into Vector's massive shoulder, not hard enough to pierce his hide, but enough to cause a prick of pain. "Don't mock me, Vector" the ninja warned.

"Oh, lighten up, ya grump" the reptile sleuth retorted, lightly shoving his serious companion. When he did, he noticed an innocuous detail on a particular pipe that Mighty wrecked. A light of understanding went off in his head and he grinned proudly. The serious chameleon to his side noticed the shift in his expression, knowing what it meant.

"Who is she?"

"Patience, mah good man. All 'n good time..." Vector said as he wrapped his arms around the still arguing Charmy and Mighty, forming a huddle. Espio materialized next to Charmy completing the circle as Vector prepared to relay his plan.

"Mighty, you n' Ray find as many pipes as ya can 'n plug 'em up"

"Huh? Why?" the oblivious armadillo asked.

"It would take too long ta explain, jus' trust me" Vector assured.

"Alright, you're the boss-man" Mighty shrugged.

"Charmy, go with Espio and unscrew all the gears made of brass"

"Roger" Espio responded.

"What's brass?" the young arthropod asked, scrunching up his nose.

"I'll explain later, _kozo_. Just follow my lead, alright?" Espio instructed gently.

"Okay!" Charmy beamed.

"I'll go ta da control room 'n confront dis 'brilliant genius' in da meantime. Don't stop 'till ya see dis place fallin' apart" the boys all nodded in unison, their missions clear. "Get to it, boys!" the reptile leader commanded as he let go of his team. Immediately, the Chaotix broke into pairs and rushed off in different directions while Vector made his way through a few more traps.

"It's pointless!" the mastermind shouted while the team made their way through the mechanical madness of a maze. "Whatever you thugs have planned won't work, because my maze is flawless!" Vector ran through a collection of spiked walls smashing into each other.

"You will all die here!" she shrieked as Mighty, carrying a panicking Ray, leaped through bullets from mounted machine gun turrets and over trap doors. The armadillo winced as Ray yanked his ears in his fear induced frenzy. As he curled and twisted through the air, Mighty lands roughly on a few pipes.

"Ray, remember the mission!" he reminded as he resumed kicking pipes, denting them as if they were made from styrofoam. The yellow furred squirrel reached into the curl of his tail and took out a few seeds, tossed them in the air, pressed a trigger on his palm, and a green gas sprayed out of a hidden nozzle on the tip of his thumb.

The gas hits the falling seeds, making them grow instantaneously into full grown plants, specifically a curling vine plants from the illusive Little Planet. The brilliant botanist throws the vines at some pipes, as soon as the plants get close, they curl around the pipes. Tighter and tighter the vines squeezed the pipes so intensely that the metal bent under the pressure.

Through it all, Ray screamed his head off at every little hazard, making the moment a lot less cooler, but Mighty didn't judge him as they continued their assault on the pipes.

"There is no escape, fools!" the mastermind gloated, while Espio and Charmy weaved through pendulums and twirling platforms. The duo finally found a collection of brass gears and went to work on them, Espio performed several hand signs, causing a wrench and a screwdriver to materialize in front of him. Swiftly, he tossed the screwdriver to Charmy and went to work on a gear with the wrench, as Charmy attempted to do the same. But a nagging question kept persisting in his mind.

"Espio?"

"Yes?"

"If we're shrunk, why aren't your tools super huge?" Charmy asked as he finished unscrewing a gear and allowing it to fall and crash into other machinery.

"What?" Espio turned his attention to the young bee for a moment, as he kicked a loose gear off its axel and sending it smashing into a pendulum.

"Well, we're inside a watch right?" Charmy asked as he moved to another gear. "So that means we got hit by a shrink ray"

Espio jumped to another gear and stuck to it like a spider as he went to work on the bolt that held it in place. "We're not inside a watch, Charmy"

"Then why are the gears and stuff so big?"

"They can come in giant sizes. Think about amusement parks, they have very massive gears as well. This is like that" the wise chameleon explained, freeing another gear and leaping to a different one.

"Ohhhh..." the innocent arthropod said, finally understanding, as he punched a gear free and sent it hurtling toward a wall. "Only this place isn't as fun as amusement parks. They have funnel cakes and ice cream stands!" he exclaimed, practically tasting the delicious treats as he daydreamed about being at Twinkle Park instead of the deadly maze he currently was.

"Charmy, focus" his older companion reminded him, his final gear in the area bashing against some other machinery as he leapt to the chain of a pendulum.

"Yeah, I know..." the helmet clad toddler sighed as he finished his last gear and flew to Espio, carrying him to another set of brass gears. "I still think it'd be cool if we were shrink rayed" he said under his breath.

"You'll suffer for stealing from me, you infidels!" the mastermind continued ranting as the teams continued their work, while Vector slunk through some more traps looking for a way into the control room. Eventually he came to a place with various slamming weights, connected to chains that would pull them up so they can be slammed down again and again.

The clever detective waited for a weight to slam in front of him and grabbed the chain that would pull it back up, riding it all the way through the ceiling. Once Vector arrived in the crawl space of the ceiling, he swiftly crawled across the expansive location, occasionally knocking on the ceiling of the crawl space as he went. Finally, when he knocked, the sound it made was different from all the other times he knocked, and satisfied with this fact, Vector opened his massive jaws and bit through the material as easily as a slice of bread.

"Stupid idiots! Get killed already!" he heard from beyond the hole he just made, a clearly feminine voice. It was the mastermind. And he recognized her true voice. He slipped through the space, the floor of the control room waited on the other side. The massive crocodile channeled his inner Espio and snuck across the floor undetected by the woman behind their capture.

The woman was a beige badger, who wore a tangerine shirt with brown shorts. Her fur had brown accents that persisted all over her, but particularly atop her head, giving her the appearance of a bowl-cut hairstyle. She had several barrettes in the shape of plus signs in her bowl-cut, splashing a bit of pastel colors against the deep brown. The shoes she wore were black T-bar school shoes, complete with long white socks, matching her gloves with tangerine cuff links.

She was currently spinning wheels, pulling levers, and pressing buttons on a console that was distinctly antique. It looked like a control panel for a coal train, no electricity required. Just as Vector deduced. He followed the pipes on the floor and walls that led right to the back of the console of the frantic woman at the helm of the traps.

"You can't beat me, you can't win! I am brilliant!" she proclaimed into an old communication pipe with something over the opening, one of the only electrical things in the room. The voice changer. The only other electrical device was a couple old TV sets that showed her where each of the Chaotix were.

Vector continued to crawl stealthily to the back of the console unnoticed and saw the converging of all the pipes to the complex console. Once more he opened his powerful jaws and bit down, crushing all the pipes, rendering the console useless.

A warning train whistle sounded off in response to this, making the woman freeze in shock. "Wh-what just happened?! All the levels are dropping like crazy! What is going on?!" she asked aloud, banging frustrated fists against the console.

Vector stood to his full height, instilling a palpable fear in the woman, causing her to back away with all her might. "Yo, Gina. How ya been?" he asked sarcastically as he moved in front of the console to look at the TVs. Gina, the mastermind, scrambled further back from Vector as he turned his attention to the screens, flipping through the channels at the different camera angles set up around the maze.

"H-H-How did you get in here?! How did you escape my traps?! How did you discover my identity?!" she shrieked incredulously, finally finding her voice again. Vector simply glanced at her over his broad shoulder and smirked.

"It's all a part o' bein' a good detective, missy" he stated boldly, before snapping his thick fingers in the communication pipe, the only one he left unscathed. The Chaotix looked up from their work and waited for Vector's orders.

"Hey guys, meet up at the secret elevator a couple feet south of where we huddled. Take that up and ya should see a hallway, the control room is the door at the end of that hall. Me and the brilliant genius are waitin' fer ya" he said calmly, before turning to Gina, who remained speechless.

"HOOOOOOWWWW?!" she bellowed, defeat heavy in her voice. Vector crossed his arms and grinned proudly.

"Don't worry, they'll be here soon. Not havin' da traps ta go through is gonna cut down on their travel time" the croc delicately taps his constantly playing walkman, skipping to another song as he waited patiently for his team to arrive. Gina remained crouched on the floor, silent and completely unsure of what was happening or how it happened. As she huffed worried breaths among the silence, Vector spoke up to cut the tension.

"Ya know, you 'n me are alike..." his large hands playfully coddled the walkman attached to his belt. "We both like our older tech, even though there's much more convenient upgrades, we're too sentimental to move on..." he said wistfully, only making the significantly smaller Gina even more terrified.

Vector noticed her increase in fear and shrugged. _Welp, I tried_ , he thought, as he leaned back against the broken console and melted into his music. Within moments, the quick footsteps of the other Chaotix filtered into earshot and finally, they broke through the door.

"Vector, all the traps have stopped" Espio relayed professionally.

"But the whole place is fallin' apart! Stuff is just burstin' and explodin' all around the place!" Mighty said, confused, but intrigued.

"Can we leave now? This place is still s-s-scary" Ray whimpered, poking from behind Mighty's shoulder.

"Are ya sure we aren't shrunk down, Vector?" Charmy asked, his nose scrunched up in uncertainty.

"HOOOOWWWWW?!" Gina shouted as she backed away from the rest of the Chaotix's sudden appearance.

"WAAAAHH!" shrieked Ray, flying off Mighty's back and into the far corner of the room. "W-W-WHO THE HECK IS THAT?!" he demanded dramatically and flung a frantic finger at the badger.

" _Matte_... I remember her, she was a client" said Espio after a moment of careful thought. Gina glared at all of them as Vector finally prepared to reveal everything.

"This is Gina the Badger from Soleanna. A few months ago, she called us for help with a robbery"

"Oh yeah! I remember that!" Mighty said, pulling Ray from the corner and picking him back up. Ray didn't fight against the motion, but his eyes remained on the badger, waiting for any last minute attacks from the villainous woman.

"Hey yeah, we were in Soleanna and I found that really cool box that sent you higher every time you slid on top of it!"

"Ha ha, that was cool" Mighty reminisced.

"Not to mention ridiculous" dryly added Espio as he rolled his eyes at the memory.

"Anyway, back ta my deduction" Vector said loudly, bring everyone's attention back on him. "We met her at the location that she specified, she gave us the few details she had, and we investigated"

"And we caught the real thieves" Ray finished.

"Yeah, we did..." Vector replied, never taking his eyes off of Gina.

"Then why'd she call US thieves?" asked Charmy as he tilted his head childishly.

"BECAUSE YOU-" Gina started.

"Hey, c'mon, would ya lemme finish? I been waitin' all day fer dis" Vector interrupted, causing Gina to groan in frustration and hug her knees tighter to her chest before burying her head in her folded arms.

"Oh sorry, Vector" Ray apologized.

"Go ahead, man" Mighty motioned for him to finish.

"BUT I-"

"Hush, crazy badger!" shouted Charmy, eager to hear the rest of the story.

"So, we found the thieves, brought 'em ta da police, 'n brought da stuff back ta Gina. Case closed, right?" Vector asked calmly.

"Right" the boys answered.

"Wrong" Vector corrected.

"Huh?" Mighty and Charmy tilted their heads, perplexed.

"While you guys was goofin' off, I asked around town 'bout lil Miss Gina. 'N everybody had interestin' stories ta tell. First, they all agreed dat Gina was incredibly paranoid, ta da point o' accusin' every customer she's ever had o' bein' a thief. So it was surprisin' ta say da least when she was actually robbed, which is why she couldn't call nobody in Soleanna fer help, she could only rely on people who didn't know her 'n her neuroses"

"Us..." Espio responded stoically, causing Vector to point at him and nod.

"Exactly. I was already suspicious of our client, so when I noticed she never told us what her job was, dat was another weird thing. It's such basic information, somethin' ya could share wit a stranger no problem. Yet, you didn't want us ta know what ya do, even though we was helpin' ya get yer stuff back, stuff dat pertained ta yer job. Let alone ya didn't let us examine da crime scene, ya gave us a list of details 'bout da crime scene. No pictures or nothin' "

"That WAS highly irregular..." added Ray, placing a thoughtful hand on his chin.

"Dat's how paranoid ya are. I still figured ya was a craftsman or some crap, on account o' da glasses ya wore when we met had additions to 'em dat only a clockmaker would have. Add dat wit da graph paper dat ya used ta record da details o' da robbery 'n it was obvious how right I was. So why, oh why, wouldn't ya want da people lookin' fer yer stuff know ya make clocks?"

"..." Gina gulped loudly, sweat beads flowing off of her in waves. Her silence spoke volumes, causing Vector to point a strong finger at her as he continued.

"Because dat's not really what ya do, is it Gina? Dis is what ya do" the croc swiped his hand around, motioning to the monitors showing her clockwork maze falling apart. "Ya make clockwork traps, sell 'em ta rich people fer extra security dat a safe jus' can't give. 'N dere's a lotta money in dat, which is why yer so paranoid 'bout people knowin' what ya do. If they knew how ya really made a livin', they'd rob ya wit outta second thought. So when ya actually were robbed fer da first time, da thought o' someone findin' out yer real job 'n knowin' how much ya make made ya snap da rest o' da way" Mighty, Charmy, and Ray gasped at the revelation. " 'N speakin' o' da robbery, we solved da case easy"

"That's right, that's why we had so much time to play around after" Charmy mused, engrossed in his boss's deduction.

"We did good, too good. Gina, da most paranoid woman in Soleanna, couldn't jus' accept da fact dat we solved da case so easily. Add dat ta da fact dat she never got ta meet da robbers herself, so she couldn't confirm dat they was workin' alone. So da wheels 'n her head started turnin' 'n suddenly, da Chaotix wasn't da cool detectives dat helped get her stuff back anymo'. We was in cahoots wit da robbers"

"What?!" Mighty shouted, offended by the very thought that he and his friends were in league with thieves.

"We were working with the bad guys?!" exclaimed the gullible squirrel sitting in Mighty's arms.

"Ray, no- Would ya jus' listen?!" the emerald scaled detective snapped.

"Sorry" was Ray's small, meek reply. As the pastel furred boy resumed listening quietly, he felt a poignant stare poking his side. When he turned to see who's eyes were on him, Charmy's indignant face was waiting for him to make eye contact. Ray shrugged his shoulders awkwardly as a sort of apology for his naivety, but Charmy didn't accept it. Instead he lightly slapped Ray upside the head, encouraging a bright blush to form on the squirrel's chubby cheeks.

"Hush, simple squirrel!" he commanded before turning his undivided attention back to Vector, who simply cleared his throat and continued his monologue.

"Ta her hyper paranoid mind, dere was only one way dat da case coulda been solved so fast 'n why we didn't let her see da robbers befo' their arrest. We musta been workin' wit 'em. They robbed her, we answered her call, 'caught' da robbers, took our payment 'n split it between all of us. 'N since da real crooks was in jail 'n out o' her reach, she prepared dis trap fer da rest o' da team"

The beige badger shot to her feet and threw her head forward as she shouted. "That's right, you degenerates! I am Gadget Gina and no one steals from me and gets away with it!"

The Chaotix paused for a moment, looked amongst each other and stared back at the mad engineer in utter agitation.

"Okaaaayyyy... but that's dumb" Charmy finally said, causing Gina to fluster at the sudden insult.

"W-What?" she tried to shout.

"Why would we work with those guys?" the clever bee finished, leaving the woman speechless.

"You know YOU called US to track down the thieves, right? Even if we were working with the thieves, how could we know you would call us and not any other private detectives to investigate?" shrugged Ray, who honestly wanted to know how the brilliant mammal capable of building this elaborate trap didn't think of these simple questions before now.

"That's- I- Ummm..." she stammered, caught completely by surprise for the second time that day. Gina searched her mind for an excuse or a plausible reason for not considering those possibilities. Unfortunately, she couldn't find one. Her flustered blush only increased from the realization that she hadn't thought of those contradictions before that moment.

"How can someone so smart be so dumb?" Mighty scoffed, shaking his head in disappointment. Ray and Charmy noticed his expression and perfectly emulated him, creating three disappointed heads shaking at Gina's antics. A furious heat blazed in her chest and venomous retorts were forming in her mind.

"I-You-!" a blade jabbed at her, inches from her eye, interrupted whatever protests she was preparing against the disappointed trio. Espio stared the beige badger down, his intense eyes paralyzing her right down to her bones.

"Regardless, it's over. You will lead us out of here and we're going to take you to the police" he stated coldly.

"But before that she's gotta unshrink us!" chimed in the bubbly arthropod floating next to Espio, utterly destroying the mood.

"What?" Espio, Vector, Mighty, and even Gina said simultaneously.

"Where's the shrink ray, Gina?!" Ray asked frantically, reminded of the horrible shrinking fate that they've been subjected to. Espio sighed in exasperation and placed a hand on his forehead.

"I told you there is no shrink ray-"

"Hush, lame chameleon! The crazy badger needs quiet to remember where she put the shrink ray!" Charmy quickly shouted, causing Espio to lose all interest in the child and the situation. He pulled the bowl-cut woman to her feet and shoved her into the hallway connected to the control room. As everyone followed after Gina and Espio, Vector caught up to them in the hallway, an offended look on his face.

"So ain't nobody gonna congratulate me fer solvin' dis all by myself?" the bulky reptile asked, expecting a string of compliments and praise after the prompting.

"Do you know how she got us all here?" the magenta chameleon asked flatly. The brilliant detective scoffed incredulously.

"Of course I..." and just like that, the words died in his throat. He hadn't thought of that part, he was too busy trying to figure out the who, what, where, when and why that he forgot to ask about the how. "uh... wait..."

"Then, no" everyone responded in unison, causing Vector to pout a little and turn up his music as they walked out of the facility.

* * *

 _ **Someone incorrectly assumed that Vector wasn't a great detective because of how he's been portrayed since Sonic X. I figured I'd rectify that. ;) Charmy Nonsense Vector is based off of Sonic Heroes and Knuckles Chaotix Vector. Both of these Vectors are portrayed as smart, capable, and witty. Sonic X and every game starting with Shadow the Hedgehog, decided to ignore these aspects of Vector and provided us with an incompetent, greedy, egomaniac in his place. So to everyone who has only known this "new" Vector, go back to Sonic Heroes and meet the real Vector. Because this weird idiot obsessed with money that's running around with Espio and Charmy in the games is NOT Vector. (Or you can just keep reading Charmy Nonsense, whatever floats your boat ;D)**_

 _ **Gadget Gina is a reimagining of the NPC Gina in Sonic 06. She's really nothing special, she just sets up the 9th town mission for Sonic, stopping a blue car from getting away with whatever was stolen from her. I thought it'd be cool to pick an NPC from 06 and give them the ol' SAJ-Man spin X3**_


	19. Charmy takes a bath

_**Hey gang, we're back and I'm happy to see ya! But guess what? You could have read this chapter a WEEK AGO! For just $3 a month on Patre on, you can have access to all my stories at least a week in advance! Plus, you will have access to my Sonic related YouTube videos early, art related to said videos, and art related to my fan fics! All of that for just $3 a month! What a deal, right? So if you want to support Charmy Nonsense and your good pal SAJ-Man, head on over to my**_ _ **Patre on**_ _ **and pledge today! :D**_

 _ **Okay that's enough of me**_ _ **Patre on**_ _ **pitching XDDD On with the chapter! This chapter is a reader prompt from T420000 or**_ _ **SnowAntoinette. Go check 'em out and tell 'em SAJ sent ya! Thanks for the prompt, buddy! C:**_

* * *

The old wooden steps creaked and moaned under red shoes, as the bold young man stomped up the stairs of the Chaotix Detective Agency. A musty cloud wafted in front of his face, blocking his path like a brick wall, but Mighty was used to breaking through walls. Bravely, he pressed on, undeterred by the noxious fumes' attempts to blow him back, nothing would keep him from completing this mission.

Vector, Espio, Ray, the entire Chaotix's fate, rested on his shoulders, and the red shelled boy swore he would succeed in this most dangerous endeavor. They weren't strong enough to handle this task, several attempts were made before this moment, and all of them ended in crushing failures. Ray was nearly comatose the last time Mighty saw him, the sight steeled his nerves and augmented his resolve, equipping him with the courage to march deeper into the smog's depths.

His senses were starting to beg for release from this torment, but Mighty swallowed back the overwhelming discomfort and clenched his fists. He had arrived at the nexus of the toxic fumes and the effects from the stairs were nothing compared to the full assault he was feeling now. But Mighty hadn't come this far to fail now. His team, his home, needed him and he was sure as heck gonna protect them.

With a sturdy kick, the door blocking the origin of the heinous gas flailed into the horrifically dirty room. Finally, Mighty locked eyes with the source of the smog destroying the entire Chaotix Agency. He clinched his jaw and scowled at the terrible creature responsible for knocking his best friend unconscious.

"That's it..." he growled in a gritty voice. "That is it, little man. You're takin' a bath. Right. Freakin'. NOW"

Charmy looked up from his Game Boy unamused. His body was covered in mud and garbage and who knows what else, his black and yellow fur had turned a sickly grayish brown, the smell emanating off of him was visible and rancid. Like spoiled milk churned with horseradish and peppered with bread mold. The bee sat atop a pile of dirty socks that had been soaked in a month's worth of feet sweat and rotten fruit. The paint peeled off the walls of his bed room, everything was in a haze so much so that the entire room looked blurry.

The smelly arthropod reclined on his pile of disgusting junk and put his hands behind his head, revealing his armpits. Mighty's eyes began to water as the undertones of rotten eggs clocked him in the face, causing a rough coughing fit to overwhelm him.

"I don't need a bath, I'm already clean" Charmy stated calmly.

"The paint is peelin' off your walls!" Mighty shouted, motioning to said walls. The stubborn insect scoffed at his older companion.

"That always looks like that" he waved nonchalantly.

The angry armadillo rushed at Charmy without warning, clutching the rust orange jacket he wore. But before he could carry the tiny bug to the bathroom, Charmy exhaled directly in Mighty's face, the rancid morning breath crippled the poor teenager and broke his firm grip on Charmy. With a loud thud, Mighty's head crashed to the floor as Charmy flew past him, giggling all the way. The dense fog of stink followed him outside his room and downstairs, where the recently awakened Ray was once again knocked unconscious immediately.

" _GAKI_! CEASE THIS DISGUSTING CHARADE AND TAKE A BATH THIS INSTANT!" Espio screeched, while trying to snatch the pesky child from the air. Unfortunately, all of his speed and skills were dulled from the intense rank Charmy emanated, so the boy remained out of the ninja's reach.

"No way! Bath's are boring and dumb and I hate getting wet!" argued the foul juvenile. Vector snuck behind him in an attempt to catch him by surprise, but the detective hadn't factored how repulsive Charmy would be from up close. To his shame, the crocodile felt a wave of nausea and nearly vomited where he stood, it took all of his willpower to hold it in and run outside to relieve himself.

"Plus, now I get to watch whatever I want on tv, cuz Vector can't be in the same room as me! Bein' stinky rocks!" his stubby fingers picked up the tv remote and flitted through the channels, while Charmy relaxed in Vector's recliner. Somewhere he was never allowed to sit, but since the guardian of the recliner was currently regurgitating violently in the front yard, Charmy was free to do whatever he wanted.

"Kid, look what ya did ta Ray! Ta me! Ya gotta stop dis, now! How we gonna live n' da house if ya stink the whole place up ta high heaven?!" begged Vector from outside, his face desperately pressed against a window. Despite his boss's pleas, Charmy simply pumped his fists in the air as the Super Duper Scooper theme song blasted on tv.

"Dat's it, I'm burnin' the house down" the crocodile declared resolutely, before inhaling a deep breath. Just before he unleashed a torrent of flames, Espio materialized behind him and swiftly smacked the back of his head, causing Vector to clumsily keel over, coughing out more smoke than fire.

"That will make the smell WORSE!" the chameleon chided, his temper out of control. The giant reptile picked himself up and practically headbutted his smaller teammate as he huffed out a bitter retort.

"Den what do ya suppose we do, genius?! If dis keeps up, we ain't gonna have a business OR a house! Dat lil' runt is terrorizin' us n' we got no way ta stop 'em, dat smelly idiot!"

"I don't know, maybe we can try a different air freshener-!"

"HE OVERPOWERED THE LAST 10, ESPIO! HOW IS DAT HELPFUL!?"

"AT LEAST I'M NOT RESORTING TO ARSON, VECTOR!"

"IT'S DA ONLY THING WE AIN'T TRIED YET!"

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from the living room, followed by high-pitched yelping and rage filled threats. The two scaly friends rushed to the window in time to see Mighty wrangling Charmy toward the stairs, the yellow striped kid bucking as hard as he could against Mighty's grip.

"Yeah! Get 'em, Mighty!" cheered Vector.

Espio marveled at the armadillo's tenacity as he pulled Charmy away from the stair's railing he was using as an anchor. "How does he do it? How can he stand such a violent odor longer than any of us?"

"He must have an iron stomach! Go Mighty, go!" Vector continued exuberantly.

Each step up was hard fought, the scrappy little boy was just as stubborn as Mighty was. He'd grab ahold to anything and everything to slow the armadillo down and attempt to free himself, but Mighty was just to upset to let Charmy off that easy. He'd just cleaned the living room before he went up to confront him, and within a minute, the rambunctious little lad had ripped it asunder and fouled up the entire downstairs.

"I spent- hngh! All morning cleaning- ergh! Ya half-pint!" the furious teen gritted out between yanking Charmy's grip free from whatever he happened to grab hold to. "You are gonna... TAKE! This bath, and THEN! So help me, I'm gonna- ruagh! Pound your squeaky clean butt into next week! Graaah!"

"No! You can't make me! I won't get in that tub!" howled the struggling toddler. Charmy let out a a prolonged shout as he focused his energy. The energy inside of him rose to the surface, making him glow, before finally, electrical discharges erupted across his body! The sparks and streaks of electricity flowed out of Charmy and into the unwitting Mighty, blasting him with a substantial attack.

Mighty's gripped loosened and his body flung down the stairs awkwardly as he jittered from the surprise electrical attack. The herculean armadillo flopped on the bottom of the stairs, singed and smoking, with his body contorted in a comical fashion. Charmy laughed triumphantly as he stood at the top of the stairs.

"When... did you get... electric powers..?" wheezed Mighty as his eyes rolled haphazardly.

"Ho ho ho, a lot's changed since you've been gone, red shell. I'll say it one last time: I'm not gettin' in that tub. It's boring and lame and I don't wanna" the putrid smelling Charmy said, pointing a smug finger at the bathroom. Mighty struggled back to his feet, the fumes coming off an even sweatier Charmy was finally wearing him down. And the kid knew it.

Dragging out this battle was not in his best interests, but the armadillo had no desire to give up and allow the insect's reign of terror to continue a moment longer. In that moment, Charmy was faster, stronger, and more unpredictable than he was, there was no chance he could win this battle by force. The ragged teen wracked his brain, trying to think of a plan of attack, something, ANYTHING, to get the incapacitating smell coming from his young friend to disappear for good.

 _Ice Cream Hero! Super Duper Scooper, the Ice Cream Hero!_ the television sang, snatching Mighty's attention away from his dire situation. _He'll give villains a brain freeze they'll never forget! Because it will be a brain freeze... OF JUSTICE!_

"What?" he groaned to himself, before a blur rushed past him, the sickening odor trailing behind it knocked the poor armadillo flat on his shell. Charmy was bouncing on Vector's now filthy recliner, singing along with the program. Mighty's gray eyes scanned the curious behavior and a lightbulb finally lit up. He knew what to do now.

In one smooth motion, Mighty curled in on himself and preformed a spin dash that launched him like a cannonball straight at the tv set. It crumbled before the unsuspecting Charmy, everything happened so fast, he had no time to register the destruction of his prized possession. After a second or two, his chubby face wrinkled into dismay and heartbreak. He tried to form words, to express his extreme displeasure at Mighty's unwarranted attack on the innocent tv, but only anguished gibberish came out.

Mighty sat atop the steaming corpse of the television set, defiantly glaring at the whimpering child. "Aww that's too bad. Looks like I broke the tv, right when the show was starting. Looks like you're gonna have to find another tv to watch your show on. Oh, but the nearest tv is several miles away, in the big city. But hey, we could keep fighting while you miss the show. Your move, Garbage Boy..." he taunted confidently.

Charmy was wrapped in confusion, he had no defense for this turn of events. How could he have foreseen this horrible betrayal? So for several tense moments, Charmy shot panicking looks around the living room, eventually landing back on Mighty. The armadillo refused to give Charmy an out.

"NO FAIR, MIGHTY!" he screamed, with his eyes watering profusely. Charmy rushed out the door and passed by Vector and Espio, sending them into a gagging fit as he flew as fast as he could into town. Grinning, Mighty walked over to the still unconscious Ray and shook him awake.

"Huuuuh- whaaaa- whodidit-!?" the young squirrel shouted incoherently. Mighty patted him on the shoulders, gently bringing him back to reality.

"You're okay, buddy" he soothed. Ray shuddered in his grip as he stared past Mighty and into the recent trauma he'd been subject to.

"The smell... that horrible, horrible smell... it defies all logic..." he murmured, his eyes wide and unblinking. "I thought something crawled up his butt and died... Did I die?"

"No, we all survived, I bought us some time" Mighty tossed a thumb at the wreckage. The loud wailing of Vector turned the two friends to the front door.

"Land's sake, Mighty! My tv! Da game's on tonight! Why the tv, whyyyyy!?" he bellowed sadly, dropping to his knees in defeat. Espio rolled his eyes and laid a tired palm on his face.

"What do we do now? He'll be back in a matter of hours and we still don't have a plan" the shinobi reminded. But Mighty wagged his finger knowingly, catching everyone off guard.

"Relax gentlemen, I got a plan"

"How do you know it'll work?" Ray asked in disbelief.

"Because I know how to speak the kid's language. Here's what we're gonna do..."

Fluttering translucent wings carried Charmy back home to the hilly plains outside the city limits. He'd managed to catch the end of the show by sneaking into an electronic store and his smell drove out the patrons and employees alike. Leaving the store to himself, so he not only got to watch the end of the show, but he caught a couple other episodes of his other favorite shows on the huge screens. One of those huge screens currently resided in his arms, courtesy of the shop owner, who'd promised Charmy anything if he'd leave and never come back.

All things considered, it wasn't a bad day, despite the massive betrayal of Mighty breaking their tv in the first place.

"Why'd he have to go and do that?" he muttered under his breath as he floated past another hill on his way home. "It's not like being stinky is a crime or anything, sheesh" The helmet clad boy admitted his recently acquired scent wasn't convenient for the rest of his team, but he hadn't really done anything wrong in his opinion. Sure, he stunk, but it was his body he chose to keep dirty. So what was the big deal?

Surely, everybody was just being drama queens. And if he got to watch what he wanted to and sit where he wanted as a result of their overreaction, that was just a sweet perk to the whole thing. Plus, it wasn't like he'd never take a bath ever again in life... he'd just wait for a little while longer to wash his funk away. Charmy reasoned a few more weeks would be fair, after all he was bringing a new tv home.

Tiny gloves shifted the weight of the large tv set in his arms as the little detective floated to the top of the final hill the Chaotix Detective Agency rested on. But what he saw wasn't the modest ranger station-turned-cottage that he called home, it was something much more unexpected.

"SWEET HONEYCOMB CLOUD, WHAT'S THAT?!" he gasped, his mouth dropped to the ground and eyes widened with wonder and excitement.

Towering before the small child was a rickety water park, made from junk and random items held together with duct tape and propped up with broom handles. Inflatable pools were roped together and fenced in with random planks of wood to form an awkward larger pool area. Old shower heads, connected to bending pipes, hanged from the trees surrounding the house, spraying the ground with streams of water in irregular intervals. Water-filled barrels, held up by long stalks of bamboo, twirled around precariously on their perches thanks to a broken motor haphazardly connected to structure. Hula hoops, dipped in a special bubble mixture, connected to levers and when they were pulled up, they created massive bubbles, sustainable for several minutes and capable of lifting people in the air, thanks to Ray's plant extracts.

But the piece de resistance of this unexpected wonderland, was the massive winding waterslide that circled around the entire front yard. It was colorful and bright, made with cut up plastic bins and duct taped to near perfection. A ladder led to the top of the spiraling beauty, which was a few feet taller than the house, and led all the way around the house twice before dumping the slider into the inflatable pool area.

Charmy had forgotten how to breathe for several moments, the absolute shock of this majestic construct was utterly befuddling for him. He didn't know where to start, it was just so beautiful. Instinctively, he floated toward the shoddy imitation water park, his hand slowly stretched in front of him, desiring to touch it all and make sure this wasn't a dream.

"Like it?" a calm voice asked suddenly. Mighty dropped down from the sky, standing on a giant bubble, before jumping in front of Charmy. The hyperactive insect found his voice again and his thoughts rushed out of him like a broken dam.

"What is that? Where did this come from? What is that thing? How did this get here? What is THAT?! Can I play here? What IS that?! So cool, so cool, too cool, I can't breathe!" Charmy cried excitedly, flying all around Mighty.

"It's just something I happened to be tinkering with" Mighty said, leaning against a tree and crossing his arms, trying his best to look nonchalant. "No big deal" he shrugged calmly.

"Big deal, big deal, big deal, mega giant ultra super huge deal! You made this?!" the exuberant toddler asked, bursting at the seams with joy.

"He had a lot of help" called Espio from the inflatable pool area. He was sitting on Vector's stomach, like he was a long green floatie.

"I'm no Tails when it comes to building stuff, but I did what I could to make everything as safe as possible" Ray added, drifting by in a bubble and thanking Gaia that the air inside the bubble smelled like soap and Charmy's stink couldn't penetrate it.

Charmy looked between all of his friends, happy that they weren't holding a grudge toward him for subjecting them to his foul odor. In the back of his head, he figured it wasn't good to do that to them and hoped they would forgive him. And apparently they had.

"Can I play with you guys? Please, please, please?" he begged, dropping to his knees and clasping his hands together for emphasis.

"Nope!" Mighty smiled, breaking Charmy's heart swifter than a baseball through a window. "Only good boys and girls can play at Mighty's Super Fun Time Water Park. So sorry, little buddy, I can't let ya in" The armadillo turned around and walked toward the water park, leaving Charmy spiraling within himself.

"I'm a good boy! I am! I helped save the world and I solve cases and I do chores and everything! I'm a good guy!" he cried, flying beside the still walking Mighty.

"Well where's the proof? I mean, ya sure don't SMELL like a good boy, do ya?" Mighty said slyly, without even looking at Charmy. The young arthropod stopped in his tracks. Mighty was right, he didn't smell like a good boy. He smelled like Robotnik, or Metal Sonic, or the Black Arms. All of them were rotten, just like how he smelled. What had he done?

"I'm sorry! I should have taken a bath! I'll get clean and stay clean, I promise!" he begged as he tugged on Mighty's tail. The clever teen turned around, still acting his part perfectly, and looked Charmy up and down.

"You promise, huh? Get clean and stay clean, huh?" he asked, curiously. Charmy rigorously nodded his head.

"I'll do whatever it takes to ride that slide!"

"Good to know" within a second, Mighty pulled out two bottles of liquid soap and squeezed them at Charmy, covering the boy in the cleaning substance. Before Charmy had a chance to say anything, Ray's tail curled around his body and the golden squirrel had already carried him to the top of the water slide. With the lightest of pushes, Ray sent his younger companion hurtling through the plastic tubes.

Charmy hooped and hollered as he blasted through the water ride at lighting speed, the multicolored plastics making up the slide shining as the sunbeams bled through the material. Charmy had never felt so exhilarated in his life, which is probably why he didn't notice the inside of the slide was made up of scrubbing sponges. As the unwitting child slid through the expansive plastic trail, his body was scraping against the rough material, scrubbing off the dirt and grime that had built up on his body. By the time he came shooting out of the slide and into the inflatable pools, the grayish brown tint to his fur and clothes were gone. He was sparkling clean and vibrantly colored again.

"Again again again again!" he cheered, unaware of his newly squired cleanliness. Espio and Vector looked up at their youngest teammate and did the one thing they were afraid to do all this time: they breathed through their noses. And all they smelled was the sweet scent of odorless soap.

The two reptiles sighed deeply, relief washed over them, so much so that Espio leaned back too far in relaxation and fell into the water, eliciting a laugh from Vector. Charmy jumped out of the inflatable pool area and ran as fast as he could to the top of the slide, all the while, Mighty watched him go.

First in pride, for his plan had worked flawlessly, but then in curiosity. As the lovable bee ran up the slide, skipped to the bubbles, and jumped to the shower heads, a question popped into his mind. Rather than ask it now, he decided to wait for the right moment. After all, it was time to play with his team!

As the sun set on the 5 soaked friends, everyone winded down and decided to go back inside. Vector was the first to go, realizing that all the water in their park was coming from his pipes, meaning his water bill was going to be through the roof this month. Espio followed suit, wanting to put on a fresh pot of tea in time for dinner. Ray remembered that, ironically, he needed to water his plants and rushed to the backyard to tend to his garden.

And naturally, Charmy wanted to play for as long as possible, but even he had to admit when it was time to take a break from playing. So he walked away from the immensely fun water park, thoroughly soaked and deeply satisfied. Mighty stood in his path, a warm towel in his outstretched hand. Charmy gratefully took it and patted himself down, the streaks of water soaked into the soft fabric as they both walked toward the front porch.

"Mighty, thanks so much for making this! It's the most awesomest thing I've ever seen in my front yard ever" the child beamed, still shocked that the water park, no matter how shoddy and sloppily made, managed to be so much fun.

"No problem, squirt" Mighty chuckled as he rubbed the top of Charmy's head. "I figured if we turned bath time into play time, you wouldn't be so scared of it" Charmy nearly fell over as they walked.

"Scare-? Scared?! What-what-who's-?! Who's scared of- of- baths? Not me, totally not me, I'm not scared of being wet, nuh-uh, no way, I don't know why you'd even say that" he rushed out, desperate to throw Mighty's suspicious off.

The armadillo chuckled even more, placing his hands up to calm Charmy down. "Relax, it's okay to be scared of water"

"Haaa- I'm not afraid of- who told you- you- that I was scared- of- of- was it Vector?" the young insect stuttered, avoiding eye contact and shifting awkwardly in place.

"Nah, it was pretty obvious when you were clawing at anything you could to keep me from dunking you in the tub" Mighty said, raising a brow knowingly. Charmy stammered, struggling to find a rebuttal, but came up short. The young bee sighed in defeat and plopped down on the porch steps, the wood creaking lightly as he did. His older companion followed suit, looking at him patiently, waiting for Charmy to muster up the courage to tell him what was really on his mind.

After a moment of silence, the helmet clad boy spoke in a tentative voice. "It's... it's not like I'm... scared of getting clean. That'd be lame. It's..." Charmy fell silent again, his fingers tangled in his towel, while he stared at his shoes uncomfortably.

"Your wings, right?" Mighty's question made Charmy shoot up and stare at him, shock written all over his chubby face.

But before he could ask, Mighty continued. "You can't fly when you're wet. And when you can't fly, you're handicapped"

He made it sound so simple and easy to understand, "Yeah... that's what's scary..." he placed a hand on his small shoulder blades, where his wings sprouted from his back, and felt the dampness still weighing him down in that very moment.

"That'd be why I said it's okay to be scared. Flying is your main mode of transportation. Take that away, even for a little while, and you're bound to feel uncomfortable"

"It's not just that! It's..." shouted Charmy, more panicked than he intended. His eyes darted back to his shoes for a moment as he regained his composure as best he could. "I need my wings... it's more than the flying stuff... I need them..."

Mighty stared at his young friend's strained face, he thought he understood, but apparently there was an unidentifiable factor at play. He had to admit, he was a little out of his depth here. Charmy's towel moved to the boy's back, carefully he rubbed between his shoulders with it, his eyes closed, but tense.

"It's kinda like, if your shell fell off whenever you got wet, and you couldn't put it back on 'til you and your shell was super duper dry. Your shell isn't just about blocking attacks, right? It kinda, means something more?"

"Yeah, absolutely" Mighty responded, without hesitation.

"Whatever extra stuff it does for you, that's what I lose when I get wet. So it's not just baths, rain sucks, boats are scary, doing the dishes sucks AND it's scary. A lot of stuff is not fun for me" he whispered weakly, ashamed of his situation.

Mighty quietly looked at him with nothing but sympathy in his eyes. "I didn't know all that about you... wow..." he took a cue from Charmy and looked down at his shoes as well.

"Yeah... don't tell the guys... I don't want them..." the winged boy stopped himself short, a flash of emotion rushed by his face, before he spoke again. "Just don't tell 'em, okay?"

"Sure, but... why not? What'd be the harm in telling them?" Mighty asked, genuinely confused. Charmy just continued to wipe his back carefully, without looking up at Mighty. An uncomfortable silence enveloped the two teammates, as Mighty pieced together an answer in his head. Whatever conclusion the armadillo came to, he knew that this was Charmy's secret to tell, not his. His choice was clear.

"Never mind. It's all right kid, I won't say a word about any of this to anybody" Mighty assured his small companion, slinging an arm around the boy's shoulders. "But hopefully, this helped take your mind off of not being able to fly?" he asked, motioning to the Chaotix's beautifully junky creation. Charmy's face lit back up.

"Uh-huh! I forgot ALLLL about that stuff until right now! This was so amazing!" he exclaimed, still impressed with the construct.

"Glad you think so, because the only way you'll ever get to play with it again, is if you keep your room clean" the armadillo chided, causing Charmy to pout.

"No fair! Vector doesn't have to keep HIS room clean!" he protested, jabbing a finger at the crocodile sleuth trying to figure out how to set up the new tv in time to catch the game.

"Don't change the subject, little man! Your room's paint was peeling off the walls!" Mighty argued, flailing his arms ludicrously. The two argued on the porch until Charmy's stomach growled and Mighty refused to feed him until his room was spotless, causing the rambunctious bee to run inside. He got halfway up the stairs, only to be knocked clean out by the putrid smell still lingering in his room, inciting a chuckle from the mischievous armadillo as he leaned back beneath the makeshift slide spiraling around his cozy home.

"Mission accomplished"

* * *

 _ **Whoops, I snuck a little seriousness in this one. I'm sure you guys don't mind though, right? ;) I think it's important to remember that a winged animal or insect in this case doesn't depend on their wings for the surface level stuff. It's about something that we can't even accurately describe I suppose, but there's a lot more to it than not being able to fly. I don't know, just something interesting to think about, no?**_

 _ **Plus there's just one more thing I wanted to add to the**_ _ **Patre on**_ _ **pitch, ahem.**_

 _ **Chapter 20 is already up and waiting to be read on**_ _ **Patre on**_ _ **. I won't release it anywhere else for at least another week or 2. Only $3 a month and you can read it right now, plus have early access to everything I make. Just sayin' F3**_


	20. Charmy and the Shipping Container (V)

_**Alright! Chapter 20! You know what that means! It's serious story time! Before you read this one, make sure you reread Chapter 10! Not only because this chapter is a direct continuation of that chapter, but I added a song to that story AND I kinda reworked a few things to make it flow a little better.**_

 _ **This chapter has three songs! The first song is Maximum Black by Bohren und der Club of Gore. You can play this one as soon as the chapter starts.**_

 _ **The second song is Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses, BUT! Don't play this one until you see the parenthesis! [()()()()() These things]**_

 _ **And the last song is Surely by j^p^n. Play this one when you see the parenthesis again. Trust me, it will make ALL the difference. Alright, enjoy!**_

* * *

Heavy footsteps rushed across the spiraling road of the Radical Highway, focused and determined. The sprinting crocodile had hoped against his better judgement that crossing Radical Highway wouldn't be necessary on his mission. Unfortunately, he'd scoured the Richmond District and Presidio, cracking heads and scaring the daylights out of every lowlife in the area and he was still empty handed. So the only other place left to check was on the other side of the twisting roads that connected one criminal underbelly to another.

The 2,700 meters long bridge was suspended over a strait of water connecting Central City's Bay to the ocean. And while Vector, being a crocodile, could have swam the entire way, the currents would be much more trouble than he needed. Radical Highway was always congested with several thousand cars essentially at a snail's pace so only tourists would be ignorant enough to waste several hours crawling over it in their hot, stuffy cars.

But on foot? It was a breeze for someone like Sonic and Shadow. While not as fast, Vector could easily cross it in under 30 minutes, which is a lot quicker than a 2 hour long swim to the next landmass over. The emerald giant continued stomping pass the sprawling wires and red girders towering over him and keeping the bridge suspended, highway lights lighting his way. He hated this, being alone with his thoughts, his memories. The ever present antique walkman had died hours before, so he had nothing to ward off the sound of his own self loathing.

Nothing, but his hurried, raspy breaths. The broad shouldered man tried to keep his mind on the missing women, where he should look for them first, what he should do when he gets there, but he couldn't stop the voices in his head from leaking to center stage.

 _"I swear I told you everything I know!"_ flashes of a shattered arm popped in front of his eyes, his massive hand shook, remembering the cathartic snap that collapsed in his palm. The large reptile breathed louder.

 _"STOP THIS, VECTOR!"_ Espio's body flying across the club and slamming into the wall rushed to him, Vector physically winced at the memory, his stride slightly dropped its rhythm before he quickly gathered himself again. His breathing got a little louder.

 _"Please for the love of God don't hurt me anymore..."_ the man lied on the floor, blood and tears flowing out of his body in equal measures, a high pitched whimper lacing his words. The crocodile's thick arms lost their arcs and began going off kilter. Vector blew out his exhales louder than before.

 _"Vector... you're so mad... and I don't know why..."_ he nearly tripped when Charmy joined the chorus of victims heaping shame on him. Inhales got even more ragged as the crocodile unconsciously pounded his powerful feet harder on the asphalt.

" _You hurt Espio... and I don't know why..."_

 _"You... knew?" Espio asked, recoiling his hand from Vector's arm._ That palpable feeling of disgust and horror permeated from Espio's expression. Vector's chest tightened at the heartbreaking image, a stinging sensation attacked his eyes as his breathing got louder.

 _"You're about to kill this guy"_

 _"PLEASE MAN, I DON'T KNOW WHO SHE IS-!" Crack! "AAAAAAAHHHHH! GAAAAAAWD!" the pig howled, his arm shattered and mangled in Vector's unrelenting grip._

 _"and I don't know why..."_ A burst of nausea spiraled up Vector's throat, but an undignified coughing fit choked it back down in his stomach, which felt tighter and tighter as he pushed forward. The cool of the night coloring his ragged breaths a smoky white.

 _"It's like you're a different person"_

 _"That was... NOT YOU back there,"_ Espio interrupted, before his face corrupted back into that painful expression of unease and revulsion.

 _"and that person is..."_ Clips of the green colossus's rampage seemed to play all at once. He felt every blow inflicted on his teammate and the innocent old man, the stench of blood still hazed in his nose, he could feel Charmy's heart breaking with every word he spoke. Vector lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force the cacophony of trauma to stop.

 _"Why on Mobius would you hurt the man if you knew he didn't have any information?!"_ Espio nearly shouted, his disdain all too obvious. Piercing yellow eyes widened in appalling fear as Charmy faded through them.

 _"It's like you're a different person... and that person is..."_

Long, powerful jaws tightened, gritting sharp teeth together, while his breath seeped through the crevices of his fangs. A sharp sting badgered the corners of his eyes.

 _"Please just let me gooooo!" the pig hollered pathetically. Tears sprayed from his face, wetting Vector's gloves._ The man had sacrificed his pride, his dignity, all to appeal to Vector's humanity. Yet he continued to count down the pig's life, as if he was a justified tormentor.

 _"It's like you're a different person... and that person is..."_ Streaks of wet flowed past his downturned face as the pain in his chest grew deeper.

 _"I told ya. Ya don't know me" Vector responded coldly. Espio stepped back at the sheer audacity of the comment._

 _"... Do you seriously believe that is an appropriate response to all of this?!"_ Bulky shoulders shook at the pain in the chameleon's voice. The trails of tears became streams as Vector clamped his hands over his ears, begging the voices to stop under his breath.

 _"It's like you're a different person... and that person is..."_

"No" he groaned between breaths.

 _"It's like you're a different person... and that person is..."_

"No, stop" Vector said louder.

 _"It's like you're a different person AND THAT PERSON IS..."_

"Please, stop!"

 _"IT'S LIKE YOU'RE A DIFFERENT PERSON AND THAT PERSON IS..."_

"DON'T SHOW THAT AGAIN!"

 _"AND THAT PERSON IS..."_

"PLEASE, I CAN'T!"

 _"HE'S SCARING ME..." breathed Charmy, in the most traumatized voice Vector had ever heard._

 **"STOP IIIIIIIIT!"** the distraught Vector bellowed into the heavens, his roar shaking the parked cars on the bridge beside him. The frightened passengers of the cars frantically averted their eyes and turned up the music they were playing on their radios. The children in the cars cried, begging their parents to take them away from the dangerous stranger standing beside them.

The reptilian detective caught himself, thanks to the increased volume of music playing on radios and the cries of children. Ashamed and disturbed with himself, he vaulted over the high railing of the bridge and plummeted to the swaying water below. Vector was only 50 meters or so from the other end of Radical Highway, but he didn't care. The water bubbling and rushing past his ears would help him tune out the damning display looping in his mind, just enough to keep him from terrorizing anyone else. And to the lamenting emerald giant, that was more important.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

After several minutes of rocketing through the waves, Vector leaped onto the streets of Sausalito. Unlike Central City, who only had Night Babylon to bring down its good image, Sausalito was Night Babylon amplified in size. One would be hard pressed to find a peaceful night amidst the ominous metropolis. It shined with a thousand lights on each skyscraper and high-rise. But for every light, there were a dozen dark corners, where men with sinister hearts waited for moths driven to the harmless flame, so they could feast on the ignorant corpses.

But Vector wasn't a moth, he knew the dangers of this flame the second he took the first step toward it. Now that he was here, he was ready to blow the fire out and search through the smoke, for the only thing that mattered to him now. Redemption. Finding that young woman, putting the scum who took her in jail or the hospital, returning home with the good news and the most heartfelt apology he could muster; that was what he vowed to focus on.

As the brutish crocodile ripped through the criminal element, he didn't allow his mind to veer off again. His mission was clear, his goal vital, time not on his side. He didn't have time for the usual guilt trip. He needed results, tangible results, nothing else. So the hardened detective steeled himself, eventually squeezing the location of the Dingo Brothers from a no-name lowlife.

They were holed up in a warehouse, virtually abandoned and difficult to locate, of course. But the scaly giant was intimately acquainted with the dark corners of the city, more than he'd care to admit. Finding them was easy, stopping them, well, that would take a little more effort. Using strength beyond a normal man, Vector pierced the metal walls of the Dingo's warehouse with his huge fingers, like there were handlebars scaling up the surface.

Once he lifted himself to the roof, he channeled his inner Espio and softly ran to a particularly large hole in the ceiling. Carefully, Vector peeked inside, scanning for movement of any kind. Right under some buzzing florescent lights, a couple unknown figures were sitting at a cheap folding table, playing cards. Vector noticed the semi-automatics resting against the legs of their chairs, he noticed slight movement further away, a couple other guys, standing in front of a shipping container. Their guns were in their hands, their fingers twitching on the weapon.

"10 guys, huh? Big family" Vector thought aloud, as he continued peering into the opening, searching for anymore hostiles. He stuck his head into the hole and totaled up 30 guys. "Real big family" he corrected. Based on the lackadaisical attitude of the card players, their species, their choice of weapon in comparison to the rest of the degenerates, and their proximity to the guarded shipping container, Vector identified them as the true Dingo Brothers. The rest were under their employ, had to be. Judging by their weapons, they weren't expecting much of anyone to interrupt them, least of all someone who's muscles and scales were so tough, they made him bulletproof.

"Shoulda sprung fer a missile launcher or a tank, boys. Maybe then ya'd stand a chance" the detective sneered as he leaned back from the hole and cracked his neck menacingly. In one harsh moment, Vector dropped inside of the warehouse like an anchor, sending ripples of cracks rushing across the ground under his crushing weight. None of the criminals could recover from the sudden earthquake Vector caused and the croc took complete advantage of the hesitation, spewing flames from his jaws and spinning in every direction, blowing away everyone on the ground floor.

Finally the men on the railing above got ahold of themselves and pointed their weapons at the powerful reptile, everyone not shaking in their boots unloaded every bullet they had at Vector. Yet the massive detective hadn't moved an inch, either to take cover or react to being bombarded by a vast array of bullets. Instead, he clutched a piece of rubble, triple his size, and flung it at a cluster of gunmen. The staggering goons that managed to avoid his fire took note that he did this with one hand.

The humongous rubble definitely crushed several mens' bones, while the other elevated henchmen were rocked from the vibrations it caused by crashing through the wall. They fell on the ground or through some wooden crates and then the ground, but either way, no one was left standing from the upstairs group. Vector felt the pathetic pelting of bullets on his back and turned around casually to the struggling survivors, futility shooting and shouting curses and insults his way.

With speed that none of the criminals expected him to have, the towering detective bolted forward, crashing through the small group like a bowling ball plowing through helpless pins. The two Dingo Brothers were flung into the air by Vector's swift tackle, both of them screaming their heads off as they trailed up, knocked their heads against the flickering florescent light, and dropped back down. Into Vector's waiting arms.

"Welcome back, kiddies" the crocodile greeted with a toothy grin. The scrawny canines in his unrelenting grip squirmed and shrieked.

"WHO DA HELL ARE YOU?! LET US GO! PLEASE, LET US GO, MAN!" one of them begged.

"YEAH, WE GOTS MONEY! WE CAN PAY YA WHATEVER YA WANT! JUS' LET US LIVE!" the other added.

"Now dat we're gettin' ta know each other, I want you boys ta jot dis in ya memory:" Vector smirked as he spun the criminals around so they could drink in the sheer destruction Vector's assault caused. A massive hole in a metal wall, the ground completely demolished, their underlings sprawled out everywhere, flames still roasting in sporadic places, their bullets sprinkled everywhere. Both of the sibling broke into tears.

"OH GOD, PLEASE DON'T KILL US, YO!" one of them cried.

"YEAH, WHATEVER WE DID WE'RE REAL SORRY! JUST TELL US WHAT YA WANT AN-AN-AN-AND WE'LL GET IT TO YA!" the other offered.

Vector twirled them back to face him, "What I want, ya mangy lil' punks, is da girl ya kidnapped from Night Babylon 'n any other ladies ya decided ta snatch up"

"THEY IN DA CRATE MAN, HONEST!" one of them pointed toward the shipping container as he spoke.

"YEAH, WE AIN'T HURT 'EM OR NOTHIN'! WE JUST MADE 'EM LISTEN TA CDS 'N THEY DID WHATEVER WE TOLD 'EM!" the other nodded rigorously.

Vector's eyes narrowed, "What'd you say?"

"NONONONO! WE DIDN'T TELL 'EM TA DO NOTHIN' BUT COME WIT US HERE! I SWEAR MAN, WE DIDN'T HURT DEM CHICKS!"

"YEAHYEAHYEAH, WE AIN'T DO NOTHIN' TO EM, YOU CAN ASK EM YOSELF, YO!"

"Ya said ya made 'em listen ta CDs! Why?! Who're you two morons workin' fer?!" the crocodile shouted, clenching the battered bodies of the dingos tighter.

"WE DUNNO HIS NAME, HONEST MAN!"

"YEAH, DA OTHER GANGS JUS' TOLD US 'BOUT DEM CDS N' WE THOUGHT WE'D GET IN ON DAT ACTION!"

"YEAH I MEAN HOW CAN WE PASS DAT UP?" the dingo shrugged, panic rushing to his face right after he finished admitting their twisted thought process.

"AH! BUT WE'LL GO STRAIGHT IF YA LET US GO!" the other chimed in, trying to refocus the conversation on their freedom, not their past misdeeds.

"YEAH MAN, WE AIN'T NEVER GON' DO NOTHIN' WRONG EVER AGAIN, SWEAR TA GOD!"

"Ya swear? Well, dat changes everythin' " the emerald man smiled coyly.

"IT DOES?!" both brothers asked, their eyes shining with hope. Vector sighed a little and continued.

"Tell ya what, why don't I give ya some quiet time ta think it over?" Before they could blink, Vector crashed the idiotic thugs' heads together, knocking them both unconscious, and plopping their bodies to the ground. Vector rushed to the shipping container, crushed the lock and chains in his mighty grip, and flung the doors open.

Inside several women, young and attractive women, stood in nothing but their bras and panties. They were lined up like sodas in a vending machine, staring at Vector, or rather, through Vector. For their eyes were vacant, like they were sleepwalking, earphones in each girl's ears and a CD player in their hands. Mystified and unsettled, the green detective reached out to the closest girl and took the earbuds out of her ears. The woman remained completely still, like a statue as he grabbed the CD player from her hand.

His heartbeat rumbled in his ears as Vector slowly grabbed the headphone jack, his hands shaking and sweat dripping off his head. Unlike the hardened criminals shooting at him and the fall from 50 feet up, Vector wasn't prepared for this. He couldn't have guessed that the case would lead him here, not in a million years. What was playing on the other side of those mini speakers, he didn't know. But he could guess.

Painful memories surfaced, freezing him in place, implicating questions, hesitant solutions, the effect this could have on his future, it terrified the powerful man like nothing he'd ever faced before. But thoughts of Charmy and Espio, Mighty and Ray, his friends made themselves known in his mind. And it wasn't the thought of their love and support, their safety or well being, or anything of the sort that gave him the strength to unplug the earbuds.

It was one simple question that motivated him in that moment... _If this is exactly what I think it is, what will they think of me if they find out?_

A horrifying, sinking feeling shot through Vector's body at the thought. Without another wasted second, he wrenched the jack from the slot. And the CD player roared out its contents loud and clear.

 _You know where you are?! You're in the Jungle, baby! You're gonna_

 _dieeeeeeeyyyyeeeeeaaaaaaaaaooooowww!_

 _In the Jungle, welcome to the Jungle!_

 _Watch it bring you to your_

 _Shun-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na_

 _Knees, kneeees!_

 _In the Jungle, welcome to the Jungle!_

Relief washed over the reptile as he shut the CD player off.

He nearly fell to his knees, the weight on his shoulders was lifted significantly. But he gathered himself together, he still had a job to finish. In mere moments, all the CD players were destroyed, save the first one and all the women were technically free.

However, they were stuck in a trance, so they remained still. Vector remained calm and focused his energy for a moment, before clapping his hands rhythmically for a few seconds, giving extra power to the final slap of his hands. Instantly, the women woke from the trance and wailed in fear.

"WHERE AM I?!"

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

"WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!"

"WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!?"

"WHERE'S THE CLUB, I WAS JUST THERE!"

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!" Frantically, the frightened ladies screamed their confusion at each other and Vector. But the detective raised his hands harmlessly and shouted over the mass of voices.

"I'm here to get all o' ya back home, you were kidnapped, but don't worry, all da guys are taken care of. Which one o' you's Jane?" he asked loudly. All the girl's went silent, save one.

"I'm Jane, how do you know my name?" a sweet young cat responded, terrified of the strange giant of a man standing before her.

The reptile's face softened as he reached a hand out to her. "It's okay. Yer parents asked me ta come find ya when ya went missin'. I'm a detective. 'N I promise, I'm gonna getcha all home, safe 'n sound. First let's get ya some clothes, ya got plenty o' unconscious 'n beat up mannequins ta choose from".

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Most of the girls lived in the neighborhood, or at least that area of the city. Only a few, including Jane, lived on the other side of Radical Highway. Vector escorted the remaining women all the way across the bridge, carrying them the whole way, and dropped them off at their addresses. Dozens of tearful reunions and heartfelt gratitudes later, Vector was finally on his way back home.

He'd done it, he saved the client's daughter, saved dozen of clients's daughters, and made a nice chunk of money. Vector insisted at every home that he didn't need to be paid for his service, but the families of the victims and the victims themselves refused to take no as an answer. One even gave him a pack of batteries for his walkman and some pie to take home. He had done good.

As the exhausted crocodile made his way up another familiar hill, a light pricked the side of his face. It was the Sun, rising to signal the end of the long night, its warmth felt foreign on his scales, frigid from the icy, moist breeze of the dark. He smiled to himself, his walkman whispering sweet tunes in his ears as he saw his home just across the next hill. He had done good.

Slowly but surely, he made the trek on the dirt road leading right to the Chaotix Detective Agency's front lawn. Ray's flowers swayed in the wind, light from the gentle sunrise hitting the dew on their petals as they welcomed Vector home. Heavy footsteps carried the tired man across the stone porch steps and up to the accepting front door. How a chunk of wood connected to some drywall could make a grown man fight back a grateful chuckle, he'd never know. But man, was it good to be home.

Vector shifted all of the tokens of appreciation he'd gotten to one hand and lifted a dirty glove to the doorknob. As his large fingers rubbed the small shining handle, he remembered how that same hand snapped an innocent man's arm like a twig almost 24 hours ago. Everything screaming in his head when he was alone on Radical Highway, he recalled. He _had_ done good. However, he'd done the most horrible things he'd ever done on the same day.

And no matter how grateful and thankful those girls and their families were, he knew it didn't matter to him. Not as much as Espio and Charmy's forgiveness. Nothing in the world meant more to the jade croc. He had to apologize to everyone. Before anything else, he had to make it up to them, he wasn't sure how, but he had to try.

Flashes of Charmy and Espio's fearful, angry, horrified expressions formed in his mind. But instead of running, he was going to face what he'd done, like the man he was. So with delicate force, he curled his strong fingers around the doorknob and quietly opened the door.

And once he did, he was face to face with Espio and Mighty, bags under their eyes, blankets wrapped around them, an empty teapot and coffee pot beside them. Espio sat on the floor, meditating in the full lotus position, his back against the railing of the stairs, while Mighty sat on the stairs, an arm draped across a raised knee, his other leg stretched out flat on the incline and his other hand stretched across a single step like the back of a sofa.

Both young men slowly stood to their feet, blankets falling to the floor as they stared at Vector, their mood indiscernible, even for him. No one spoke, nor even attempted to break the tension, as they scanned all the things the emerald crocodile held in his hand. Vector considered explaining how his night went, but realized how unwise that would have been and quietly set the assortment of items beside the door.

Wordlessly, Espio walked to the living room, Mighty following after him, neither one of them released Vector from their mysterious gazes. The nervous reptile followed them, slowly taking a seat in his recliner as they sat on the couch. The only noises made were Vector's music playing lowly, their collective steps to the living room and the settling of each man in his seat. Again, a stretch of silence wafted between them, Vector shut his walkman off and removed his headphones, something he only did in the most extreme circumstances.

The gesture let them know that he was completely willing to listen to what they had to say, so Mighty looked to Espio, who finally blinked and showed some hints of emotion as he inhaled to speak.

"We need to talk..."

* * *

 _ **Whoo! What a rollercoaster, huh? Oh, Sausalito is a real city in California. While it doesn't directly connect to the Golden Gate Bridge (Which is what Radical Highway is modeled after) it is very close to the area that does! And it's got a higher crime rate than most of the other cities on that "island" of California. So I kinda fudged it the way I wanted it to make the story work. XP**_

 _ **Vector's confronted with his true motives, which are still shrouded in mystery! Will the Chaotix get their answers or will Vector keep his answers to himself? And how does Charmy feel on this matter? These questions will be answered (maybe) in Chapter 30! 'Till then, enjoy some more silly chapters! Stay cool, peeps! ;)**_

 _ **One last thing, if you want access to chapters weeks or even months in advance, consider becoming a patron! FF won't let me put links here, but I'm sajman at Pat reon . com. I really would appreciate the support! ;)**_


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